Mikey's Date
by TyrothDarkstorm
Summary: After saving a young woman from a couple of thugs, Mikey gets himself an admirer, and there might even be more going on between them. But things might just get even more complicated, when Mona invites a few friends from Chicago, one of which has a soft spot for the youngest turtle. Contains moderate swearing and violence. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, TyrothDarkstorm here, back for another story for you all to enjoy. At least I hope that you enjoy my stories, I haven't heard otherwise, so I guess you do. But that's enough ranting, let's get this show on the road. :)**

 **Mikey's Date**

 **Chapter 1**

 **A Strange Feeling**

Another normal day in the lair, or as normal it could be for a group of mutants, filled with training and patrols of the city above, resulting in a few fights with minor criminals and Purple Dragons. Returning home from one such patrol, Raphael stretched a bit as he walked towards the TV-area.

"Shell, that was some good workout." he said. "Wasn't much of a fight though, but there was plenty of them. Felt good taking them down."

"Yeah, but we got lucky, they almost got us with their guns a few times." said Leonardo.

"Relax, Fearless. We're all alright and those goons are on their way to jail as we speak. I say we've earned some R-n-R."

"I agree with that. Gonna get me some snacks and sit down with a good comic book." said Michelangelo and trailed off to the kitchen.

"Good old Mikey, he never changes." said Monalisa with a smile.

"For better or worse." said Raphael.

* * *

A while later, Mikey had finished his bag of crisps as well as his comic book. It had had the usual highlights that he enjoyed, the humour, the action scenes, the characters interaction. Some parts, however, he wasn't that much of a fan of every time, like the scientific bits, where he'd sometimes have to ask Donatello what some of the words meant. The romantic parts were another thing that he wasn't too thrilled about, though they were often well woven into the plot in such a way that he didn't mind. However, this time, the romantic scene in the comic gave him a strange feeling, one the he couldn't really put his finger on.

Not bothering to think much about it, he left the kitchen to see what the others were doing, finding Raphael and Monalisa in the couch, sitting close together with Monalisa resting her head on Raphael's shoulder, while watching a movie. Michelangelo wasn't sure what movie it was, but he did recognize it as one of Monalisa's girl flicks, and he wasn't all that fond of those, so he decided to do something else instead.

But, as he saw his brother and adoptive sister sitting so close together, Monalisa occasionally nuzzling her beloved mate, Michelangelo felt that same feeling from when he read his comic book. Something strange within his stomach, and it wasn't food related.

'Hope I'm not getting sick or anything.' he thought. Looking back at the couple again, he saw them kiss and the feeling got even stronger.

'Okay, I'm sick now.'

* * *

The next day, Splinter had them all executing moves that he called out during their first training session. But Michelangelo found it hard to concentrate, harder than normal actually. On several occasions, his eyes travelled to Monalisa as she stood next to him, and while he did pull away his gaze, it wasn't without master Splinter noticing.

"Michelangelo! Eyes straight!" the rat barked, having had enough of the young turtle's behaviour.

Once the training was over, Splinter approached Michelangelo.

"My son, your focus today has been very lacking." he said.

"I'm sorry, master Splinter."

"Is there something troubling you?"

"I don't know, sensei. I haven't been feeling too well, didn't sleep that well either."

Hearing this, Splinter looked his youngest son in the eyes, then placed a paw on his forehead.

"Hmm. You do feel slightly hot, and your eyes are not as they use to. I would suggest that you take it easy for a while, get a little rest before you head out on patrol later. If you still do not feel well, let Donatello examine you."

"Okay, sensei."

Normally, Michelangelo would have been glad to be able to skip his chores, but the strange feeling in his gut took all the joy out of it. He just couldn't understand why he felt that way to begin with. They still had about an hour before they were heading out on patrol, so he thought it best to do as Splinter told him and get some rest, heading to his room to try and sleep before that.

It took a while before he managed to fall asleep, and once he did, he found it to not be as relaxing as he had hoped. As he started to dream, his mind was half invaded by figures that he couldn't make out anything but their silhouettes, all of them being feminine in shape.

Waking up, he remembered having the same strange dream the day before, and that was the reason to why he hadn't slept so well. But he couldn't understand why.

'I must really be ill, why else would I feel as I do? I hope Donnie can fix me up somehow.'

Leaving his room, Michelangelo walked over to the lab, where Donatello was busy repairing an old computer that he salvaged a few days earlier.

"Don? You got a moment, bro?" Michelangelo asked.

"Just a minute, Mikey, I just have to get this new circuit-card in place and… there! Okay, I'm all ears. What can I do for you?"

"Well, you see, I haven't been feeling okay lately, I think I might be sick."

"You did seem rather out of sorts during training. Let's head over to the med-room and I'll get you checked up."

A short while later, Donatello had finished the examination and told Michelangelo the results.

"As far as I can tell, you're perfectly fine, little brother. Your body temperature is a little higher than normal, but well within healthy values, it shouldn't have any effect on you."

"But why does my stomach feel so strange sometimes?"

"Not sure, it's at least nothing physical, so it might be something psychological. You said you haven't slept good, have you been having nightmares?"

"Yeah, some strange dreams, not sure what, but I felt that feeling when I woke up last time. What can you do about it?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. I could give you some sleeping pills to help you sleep if the dreams continue to mess with you. Other than that, maybe you should try to understand what they mean, the dreams could be your subconscious trying to tell you something."

"Great, then my subconscious and I don't speak the same language." Michelangelo muttered.

"Give it a little time, Mikey, it may go away on its own. And as you seem as fit as can be, you'll be going on patrol with the rest of us, it might help you clear your head."

 **So, Mikey's got some strange feelings and dreams, I wonder what they could mean. If you've read the description, or the title of this story, you know what's going on here, but things are just getting started. Check in again for the next chapter, out soon on Fanfiction near you.**

 **Before I go though, there is one thing I want to add. With Halloween close by, I'll be publishing another story along side this one, one that isn't a TMNT story, unlike the rest I've done so far. It will be based on the game Ghost Master, and called 'Sunshine Valley Horror', so do check it out when you get the chance, first chapter should be up in a few days as of writing this. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **In Big Sister We Trust**

Standing on one of the many rooftops, the five mutants looked out over the city beneath them, as they were just about to start their patrol. The sky was mostly clear and the moon was out, while a gentle wind carried a soft warmth from the south west.

"Nice night for a run across town." said Monalisa.

"Sure is. So, how are we doing it tonight, Leo? Go together or split up?" said Raphael, looking at his older brother.

"I think will split up this time. As for the groups… hmm… Mona and Mikey will take the east side, while we take the west."

"Aw, I was hoping that me and Mona would have been together." Raphael complained.

"I know, Raph, but the two of you are almost always together on patrols. It's good for you both to work with the rest of us as well."

"I know, I know, I was just looking forward to it as it's such a great night, was all."

"Don't worry, honey, I'm sure we'll get to enjoy the night together once we're done with our patrol." said Monalisa.

"Yeah, you're right, babe. And Mikey?"

"Me?" the youngest turtle asked slightly confused.

"Yeah, you. Make sure that the two of you make it back safe, you hear?"

"Loud and clear, dude."Michelangelo said, saluting with a smile.

* * *

Some time later, Monalisa and Michelangelo stopped for a quick rest. There hadn't been a lot of activity that night, so they were thinking of heading back to meet up with the others and then go back home, but not before they had had a short time to relax a little.

"Calm night, don't you agree, Mikey?"

"You said it, sis. Wonder why, since the last week has been so busy."

"Maybe that's just it. We've taken out a lot of criminals recently, so the rest might lay low for a while."

"Too good at our job, huh?" Michelangelo said with a goofy smile.

"Yeah, you could say that." Monalisa giggled.

Seeing and hearing his adoptive sister giggle, Michelangelo felt that strange feeling in his stomach again. What was it, and why did he keep getting it?

"Mikey? Are you okay?" Monalisa asked, bringing Michelangelo out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You sort of zoned out for a while. Is everything alright?"

"I don't know." Michelangelo sighed and sat down on the edge of the roof.

"That doesn't sound good. Do you want to talk about it? You know that you can talk with me about anything." said Monalisa as she sat down next to him.

"I've been having a strange feeling in my stomach a few days, and some strange dreams that start to creep me out."

"Can you describe them? Both the dreams and the feeling."

"I… I think I saw black figures, like shadows, girl shadows I think. When I saw them, my stomach felt… sour but jittery, like if I had butterflies covered in lemon juice there… I think."

"That's… an odd sensation. Have you felt it some other times?"

"Well, there was that time when I read my comic book. I had just read the awesome battle against the bad guy, when the good guy saved the girl and got kissed. Other than that… I think I felt it when I saw you move while we trained, and again when I saw you and Raph get all cuddly with each other, I thought I was gonna be sick."

"Ah, I think I understand." said Monalisa with a smile. "I'd say that you might have matured a little bit, and now you're a little jealous of Raph."

"Huh? Jealous? Why would I be jealous of that hot head?"

"Because he's got me, as his mate. From what you've told me, it sounds like you want your own mate, and you've been looking at the only girl in the lair, me."

"But… but you're my sister! That's wrong!"

"We're not related by blood, I'm as much your sister as I am Raph's, he and I just developed deeper feelings for each other. It could just as well have been Leo that had won my heart back then, or even you or Donnie. The point is that even that you see me as your sister, your instincts see me as a potential mate, even though I'm already taken, but rivalry over a mate isn't rare, we both saw how badly that affected Leo."

"Yeah, that was horrible. I don't want to end up like that!"

"Don't worry, you're far too kind to do anything like that. But the fact remains that part of you is longing for a girlfriend."

"Maybe you're right, sis, but where would I find a girlfriend? The only girls I that know are you, April and Sephie, and you're all taken. Em, not that I would try anything with any of you."

"I know, Mikey. And you're actually forgetting about something. There are many girls in Mutopia, including those in the Chicago Knights, so you're not out of options if you decide to look for a girlfriend. I even seem to recall one of them taking a liking to you."

"You mean the snake? No thanks, she creep me out, and she's violent. And venomous."

"I'm not gonna chose your mate for you, little brother, that's something you have to do yourself. Come on, let's head back to the others now."

'However, I don't promise that I won't give a helping hand in the matter. Wonder if Sephie and Tyroth are visiting any time soon.'

 **And that's what's going on with Mikey, he's growing up a bit, and seeks a mate of his own, even if he didn't know it himself. Luckily, big sister Mona is there to help him, and not only the way he thought. What is she planning, hmm?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Arranging a Meeting**

The next night, Michelangelo was feeling a little better after having talked to Monalisa and gotten an explanation to the strange feeling in his stomach, though that gave rise to a new problem, his so called 'desire' for a girlfriend. He was at a bit of a loss on what to do, Monalisa thought that he should get a girlfriend if he wanted to, but that was just the thing, he didn't know if he did or not.

He still had that feeling, the longing for a mate, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. There were a lot of female mutants in Mutopia, including some reptile ones, so he wasn't without options. His mind was a bit of a mess, more so than usual, making heads or tails of the things going through it was far from easy. He hadn't told anyone about it either, other than Monalisa that is, not even Splinter or Leonardo.

Growing tired of it, and bored, he decided to do something else and grabbed his skateboard, hoping that a ride through the sewers would clear his head.

As he walked to the exit, he was approached by Leonardo.

"Hey, Mikey. What are you doing?" the blue-masked turtle asked.

"Just gonna go skating in the sewers for a while. Need to keep these skills sharp, you know."

"If only you showed the same side as often while training." Leonardo chuckled.

"Sorry, bro, but everyone's got their own talent." Michelangelo said with a smile.

"True enough. Just be careful, alright?"

"You got it."

As Michelangelo left the lair, Monalisa saw him go and thought about what they had talked about the night before. She had said that she wouldn't choose Michelangelo's mate for him, but she never said anything about not helping him find her. Just the thought of setting her adoptive little brother up with someone, without him knowing, made her excited, it was so sneaky. Going to her room, she lay down on her stomach in the bed and picked up her shell-cell, dialing a number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Sephie. It's Mona."

"Hey, Mona! How are you?"

"I'm just fine, thank you. Listen, are you and Tyroth planning on visiting us any time soon?"

"Funny that you'd ask that, I was just thinking of calling you and ask if we could."

"Of course you can, Sephie. The two of you are always welcome here. When do you think you'll arrive?"

"By the weekend I'd say. Got a few things to take care of before we can leave."

"Great, can't wait to see you guys again. There is one more thing though, and I really shouldn't gossip or anything, but I can't help it about this."

"You sure sound excited. What's going on, Mona?"

"You are not gonna believe this, but… Mikey's started having urges for a mate!"

"What?! Mikey?! No way! **He** wants a girlfriend?! I did not see that coming."

"It came as a surprise to him as well, but as you might have guessed, there isn't a lot of possibilities for him around here, so I was thinking..."

"I think I know where this is going."

"I remember that Kate had taken quite a liking to him, so I was wondering if maybe she could come with you. I think that they could become quite the couple if all goes well, but we won't know unless we try. Besides, she's never visited us before, might be fun for her to go somewhere new."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too, but Kate and Mikey? I don't know about that, I mean, Kate's more or less a female Raph, but then again, you managed to soften him up, so why not. I'll talk with Tyroth about it, if that's okay with you, Mona?"

"Sure, I trust that he'll understand. And also, I'm sure you know this, but, don't tell Kate. I just want her and Mikey to be near each other and see what happens, not force them. I won't tell Mikey, of course."

"Alright, 'li'l sis', we'll see you to the weekend then."

"Did you just call me 'li'l sis'?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Sonia has been calling you my 'step-sister', she knows that we aren't related, but since you said that we were like sisters, we became step-sisters, much like Tyroth became her uncle. It's just too cute, so I can't tell her otherwise."

"Aww. You're right, that's just cute. Sonia sure is a ray of sunshine. It would be fun to see her again."

"Then it's your turn to visit us next time, Mona."

"Don't mind if we do. See you this weekend, Sephie. Bye."

* * *

While Monalisa and Sephie talked, Mikey was speeding down a sewer tunnel on his skateboard, jumping and doing various kinds of tricks. After a while, he stopped for a quick break.

"Skater Ace Michelangelo is only halfway through the course, and already it's clear that he'll break the world record!" he said, imagining himself as a superstar. But his fantasy came to an abrupt end, when he heard screams coming from above.

Looking up, he saw a ladder leading to a manhole, the screams came from the other side of the lid. Worried, and a bit reluctant, the orange-masked turtle climbed the ladder and pushed up the cover just enough to be able to see, and he didn't like what he saw.

Two thugs, one with a red mohawk and a leather vest, the other was bald and only wore a pair of worn jeans and boots, they had cornered a young woman in the dark alley, who was screaming for help in vain as no-one was around to hear it.

No-one, except Michelangelo. He knew fully well what the two thugs wanted with the woman, they planned on raping her, just like those bastards that ruined Monalisa's life did with her. While normally a happy and carefree person, that was something that made even Michelangelo furious.

Moving the lid aside, he swiftly exited the manhole, obscured by the shadows, and moved to attack. Meanwhile, the bald thug had caught the woman in a headlock and held her tightly, covering her mouth, while the one with the mohawk pulled a Bowie knife from his belt and held it against her clothes, smirking viscously.

"You're awfully overdressed, babe. Let's see what treasures you hide under those clothes!"

But before he was able to do anything, Michelangelo made his move and struck the thug hard in the head from behind, knocking him out with one blow. The bald thug was shocked over how easily his comrade had been defeated, while the woman started to feel a little bit of hope. Yet none of them could see who the attacker were, as he still hid in the shadows.

"Attacking girls is not cool."

"Who are you?! Show yourself, or I'll snap this bird's neck!"

The thug nervously looked around, but couldn't see anything, until a shadow leaped at him, and a foot hit his face, making him loose his grip on the woman and fall backwards, getting knocked unconscious when he hit the ground. Standing over him, Michelangelo wanted to make sure that he was out cold, but that was not the best idea.

"You saved me! Thank you so much!" the young woman half cried as she threw her arms around Michelangelo from behind. Then the both of them just froze, he when he was hugged, and she when she felt his reptilian skin and shell. It took a short while before any of them could figure out what to do.

After a short while, the woman let go of the turtle and took a step back, finally seeing how he looked. Michelangelo started to sweat, he wasn't supposed to be seen, and now he had even been hugged. Right when he regained his senses and tried to hurry to the manhole, the woman grabbed his arm.

"Wait! Please don't go!" she said. "At least let me see who, and what, that saved me. Please?"

Michelangelo hesitated, he really should disappear immediately, but there was something that kept him from it, something that compelled him to stay. Slowly, and nervously, he turned around so that they faced each other.

She was in her early mid-twenties, had short almost spiky black hair and green eyes. Wearing a red top under a white jacket, and a pair of jeans.

"Wow… you're a… turtle." she said as she took in his appearance.

"Um… yeah… I'm a turtle… a mutant turtle."

"A mutant? How-"

"It's a long story, and it'll get longer if I tell you. Plus, I really should get going."

"Wait, before you go, can I at least get to know your name?"

"It's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey."

"Mikey, what a nice name. I'm Shari, by the way." she said with a faint blush.

"Nice meeting you, Shari, but I really have to go now." said Michelangelo as he started to climb down the manhole.

"Will I ever see you again?" Shari asked.

"Well, maybe, I mean, I'm out most nights you see."

"Then, maybe we can meet again. My apartment is a couple of blocks south of here. I could stand on the roof for a while tomorrow night, and if you see me, you could… stop by so I can thank you properly." she said, her blush growing more intense.

"Uh… sure, I'll… do that… maybe." said Michelangelo, also blushing a bit.

Once he had pulled the cover back in place, he grabbed his skateboard and hurried back home, while Shari left the alley in a haste with the same goal in mind. Both having the other in their thoughts.

 **So, while Mona scheme with Sephie to potentially bring Mikey and Kate together, the turtle in question have just rescued a damsel in distress, and they seem to... I don't know, you be the judge of that.**

 **Find out more in the next chapter.**

 **Also, be sure to check out my Ghost Master fic, 'Sunshine Valley Horror, Halloween Special', now with character art on my Diviantart page, all accessible from my profile. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Next Stop: New York**

Having ridden his skateboard back to the lair, Mikey entered through the concealed door and was greeted by Raphael.

"So, you're back, little brother. Had a good time?" Raphael asked.

"You bet, bro! Pulled off some awesome stunts in the tunnels. Next time we skate, I might just show you."

"Think you're king of the sewers, huh? You got an ego to match that mouth of yours, Mikey." Raphael chuckled.

"Is that so? Well, put your money where your mouth is, big bro, and we'll see who earns that crown."

"Oh, it will be my pleasure to put you in your place."

"That's enough, you two, no need to get aggressive." Monalisa said calmly, as she walked in on their conversation. "I'm sure you can settle this peacefully."

"You're right, sorry, big sis." said Michelangelo a bit sheepishly.

"Haven't seen you for a while, babe, what have you been doing? If I may ask." said Raphael.

"I've been on the phone with Sephie, we girls have certain things we like to discuss in private."

"Girl stuff, huh? Never understood that." said Michelangelo.

"It's probably best that way, but I do have some good news. Sephie and Tyroth will be visiting us this weekend." said Monalisa with a big smile.

"They are? Sweet! It's always fun when they are here." Michelangelo cheered.

"I'll say. They sure do enjoy paying us a visit every now and then." said Raphael. "Too bad that we can't visit them as often and easily."

"Yeah, Mutopia is such a lovely place, not to mention the wonderful people living there." said Monalisa. "We really should try and go there again."

"I'm down for that. But, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take a shower." said Michelangelo and walked off. All the skating, and the incident with Shari, had made him a bit sweaty. But one thing was for sure, he didn't want to mention Shari to anyone yet, there was so much about it going on in his mind at the time, that he wanted to have some time to think about it first. Especially since he had felt that feeling when talking to her, the same feeling that Monalisa said was his desire for a mate.

But why did he feel that way for a human girl? They were about as different as they could be, and yet there was something about her that appealed to him for some reason. But even if she by some remote chance was 'the one', she was still a human and he was still a mutant, that doesn't really mix. However, there was always the magic well in Mutopia, that could turn her into a mutant, maybe Donatello or Tyroth could even do something to choose what animal she would become. He wouldn't mind if she became a cute turtle girl.

Shaking his head to get rid of the strange fantasies that started to form in his head, Michelangelo wasn't sure of what to do about it all. Maybe he should visit that girl again, just to make sure that she's okay at the very least.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mutopia, Tyroth was laughing heartily after Sephie had told him about Monalisa's plan to see if Michelangelo and Kate could become mates.

"Honey, can you please take this seriously?" Sephie asked.

"I'm sorry, love, but Mikey and Kate? As a couple? That was just such an odd pairing, and a surprise, that I couldn't keep it together." said Tyroth, still laughing.

"If you react that way to surprises, then you will laugh yourself to death when I tell you that I'm pregnant." she said, making Tyroth almost choke on his laughter.

"What?! For real?!"

"Nope, just wanted you to stop laughing." Sephie said with a playful wink.

"Well, you succeeded, you tease."

"So, can we talk about it now then?"

"Yeah, sorry. Hmm, I'm not sure if I agree with Mona, but it's worth a shot. Kate does seem to have a soft spot for Mikey, and if he's after a girlfriend, then yeah, why not."

"Then the only real problem on our end is to find a good reason for Kate to come with us this weekend."

"That could prove to be quite the challenge. I know that the rest of the Knights would like to visit the turtles, but if we all go, Mona's plan might not work, because of how many we'll be."

"And if we only bring Kate, she'll know that something is going on. But I think that it would be best if we bring them there one at a time, we just need a good reason to pick Kate."

The couple was suddenly interrupted by screaming outside their room. Surprised and worried, they hurried out to see what was going on.

"I will fucking kill you, you pest!" they heard Kate yell, her voice filled with rage as she tried to catch Percy the grasshopper, who used his powerful legs to jump great distances to get away from the snake.

"Come on, can't you take a joke?" Percy said, and evidently, she couldn't.

"A joke?! I'll show you a joke, with a fucking good punchline!"

They weren't sure what had happened, but they couldn't have Kate kill Percy, even if he probably deserved it, so Tyroth and Sephie had to stop the snake and make her calm down. They did this by letting Tyroth block her way and throw his arms around her to hold her in place.

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill him!" she screamed.

"That's exactly why I won't let you go. Not until you've calmed down." said Tyroth as he held her in a firm iron grip.

"What has he done now?" Sephie asked.

"He placed plastic eyeballs in her soup." said Tyroth's sister, Amber the marine iguana, as she and the rest of the Knights arrived on the scene. "Scared us all out of our skins."

"No wonder she's mad, that would ruin anyone's meal." said Sephie. Then she got an idea, and looking at her mate, she saw that he had gotten the same idea. "You're thinking the same as me, aren't you, love?"

"I think I am. Percy! Get over here on the double!"

It was very reluctantly that Percy returned, but he knew that Tyroth was serious, though he kept a safe distance from Kate, who still tried to get out of Tyroth's arms.

"Okay, listen up guys." Sephie said. "Tyroth and I have been talking about this for a while, and you have all been wanting to come with us when we go to New York. Well, we're going there later this week, and we were thinking to let one of you come along."

"Only one of us? Why only one?" asked Jack the wolf.

"They don't have as much room as we do here, so all of us won't be able to get rooms of our own. If we could find another place to sleep nearby, a really safe place, then it wouldn't be any problem. But as it is now, only one of you will be able to come."

"So who is going with you then?" asked Heather the dragonfly.

"Well, after what just happened, I'm saying Kate here." said Tyroth, still holding on to her.

"What?! Why me?"

"You and Percy need to be kept separate until you've calmed down, and he'll be busy here, so you're the only one that can come with us."

"Um… how will I be busy?" Percy asked.

"After what you just pulled, I want you to scrub the floor of the entire village while we're gone. Twice."

"What?! You can't be serious! It was just a joke!"

"Doesn't matter, you need to learn when you might go too far. You will have a lot of time to think about it. Jack, Amber, keep an eye on him and make sure that he doesn't slack off, okay?"

"You got it, boss."

"Sure thing, brother. You can count on us."

"I think I'll call Mona again and tell her that we'll be coming early, as well as bringing an extra guest." said Sephie and walked back into her and Tyroth's room to make the call in private.

Once Kate had calmed down a little, and Percy was somewhere else, Tyroth let go of her. She was still very angry, but just thinking of not having to deal with that blasted grasshopper for almost a week, made her feel a little better and she could hardly wait.

 **Now it's pretty clear that Mikey has some form of feelings for Shari, despite only have met her just recently. How do you think this will play out? Especially now that Kate will travel to New York, as per the plan that Mona has set in motion.**

 **Meanwhile, Percy has got some work ahead of him, but I think he deserves it, don't you? It's most likely kinder than anything Kate would have done.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **A Snake in the City**

The next night, after their training, Michelangelo once again grabbed his skateboard and headed out into the sewers for another run through the tunnels, as well as check on the human girl Shari, to make sure that she was still okay, but he didn't tell anyone that.

Reaching the place where he had first heard her scream, he continued a few blocks further south, to where she had said that she lived. Parking his skateboard by wedging it between a few pipes, he climbed up the ladder, lifted the lid and looked around. It was another dark alley, and luckily it was also empty, allowing him to exit without any problem.

Since it was still fairly early in the night, he had to be careful not to be spotted by the people living in the apartments by the fire escape as he made his way up to the rooftop. Carefully looking over the edge, he saw no one on the roof. Feeling a bit disappointed that she wasn't there, Michelangelo still decided to stay a while longer, in case she would show up a litter later.

He stayed hidden in the shadows, looking at the sky while he waited. It was partially cloudy, but there were a few patches of sky free from clouds where he could see the stars. He wasn't quite sure of how long he sat there, but after a while, the door to the roof opened, snapping him out of his thoughts. Keeping absolutely still, he watched from the shadows, and he saw Shari walk out of the door and walked over to the edge of the roof.

He continued to watch her from the shadows, not sure what to do next, but as he did, he caught scent of her perfume, a faint but sweet fragrance of vanilla and roses. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but she wore the same perfume when he first met her. She seemed to be fine, but he still had to talk to her, it would just be creepy to keep spying on her, so gathering his courage, Michelangelo stepped out of the shadows.

"Hi there!" he said happily, making her spin around in surprise.

"Oh, it's you. I didn't think you would come." she said.

"Well, I did kinda say that I would, and it would've been rude not to keep that. Sorry if I scared you, but if you're like me, you have to stay hidden."

"It's okay, I should have expected that, but I'm so glad that you came."

"Yeah, well, I um… wanted to make sure that you were okay, after what happened last night, you know."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you, Mikey, was it?"

"Mikey, yeah. That's my nickname, but you can call me that, it's okay."

"So, how did you become that way?"

"Long story short, as a baby turtle I was covered in a strange ooze that mutated me, and here I am."

"Wow. And you live in the sewers?"

"It's not as bad as you think, cool during the summer and warm during the winter, no crowds."

"Really? I would never have imagined. But, what do you do? Do you just run around down there, going up now and then, or what?"

"More or less, we have a place hidden down there, going on patrols topside to take down crooks."

"We? There are more than just you?"

"Of course, got three brothers, one adoptive sister and an adoptive father, all of us mutants. What about you? Got any family here, or are you alone?"

"My mother lives a few miles to the north. My father left when he learned that Mom was pregnant with me, so I've never met him."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know. And apparently he was a real jerk, so maybe it's for the best."

"… Do you like pizza?" Michelangelo asked, trying to change the subject.

"Pizza? Yeah, yeah I do." Shari answered with a soft smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the lair, Raphael and Monalisa sat in the couch watching a movie, though Monalisa wasn't really interested in the movie, she was more focused on her plan to bring Kate and Michelangelo together, waiting for the Mutopians to arrive.

"You alright, babe?" Raphael asked after noticing that she was miles away.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Mind's just wandering a bit."

"Any special reason?"

"Well, I am excited for when Tyroth and Sephie get here, more so this time since they are bringing one of the Knights with them for the first time."

"Yeah, that came as a surprise, if you ask me. But they never said who it was, did they?"

"I never asked, so it could be anyone. Well, anyone except Amber I would think. She has already been here when she was still human."

"I remember, that was one eventful night for her, not to mention what she had to endure at the hands of the Foot when they kidnapped her and her parents, but she's grown a lot stronger since then, taking notes from her brother."

Suddenly, the couple heard the entrance open and close shortly after.

"Hello? Anyone home?" they heard Sephie call out with her happy tone.

"Seems like they're here, wonder who they brought with them." said Raphael as he got up and helped his mate up as well. They then made their way over to the entrance to greet their guests. And they were not the only ones. Having heard Sephie, the last two turtles as well as master Splinter, also stopped what they were doing and walked to the entrance.

"Hiya, guys!" Tyroth said when he saw the residents.

"Welcome, I hope that your trip was without difficulties." Splinter greeted the three mutants.

"It was just fine." said Sephie. "I trust that you all remember Kate."

"Of course. Welcome to our humble home, miss Kate."

"Thanks. So this is where you live, huh? It sure looks like a smaller Mutopia, much smaller."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you want to come? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just curious." said Donatello.

"It wasn't really my choice, but I desperately needed a vacation from that bug, Percy, so this came like a surprise."

"Shortly after Mona and I spoke the first time yesterday, Percy went one step to far with his teasing jokes." said Sephie. "That's when we decided that we'd bring her with us so she could get some time to relax."

"Why does he tease you so much anyway, Kate?" asked Monalisa

"Hell if I know, but sure can't be because he's tired of life, if it were, then he'd let me kill him for stunts like this. But enough about that, where am I sleeping?"

"I'll show you to your room." said Leonardo. "It's not much, but I think it will do nicely."

"Thanks."

As Leonardo lead Kate to the extra guest room, Tyroth turned to Splinter.

"I apologize for her language, it's just how she is."

"I understand, Tyroth. I suppose that I just have to endure it for your stay."

"We promise that we'll try to get her to be on her best behaviour." said Sephie.

"I know you will, child, thank you."

"We'll give you a hand." said Donatello. "Now let's get you all settled and we can have some fun before the next training session, Mikey should be back before that as well."

"He isn't here? I thought it was rather quiet here. Where is he?" said Sephie.

"Out skating in the sewers. Been gone for quite the while actually, and it's been a nice change of pace." said Raphael.

* * *

Once the Mutopians had settled in, the young mutants gathered in the TV-area to catch up a bit over a couple of sodas.

"… so, I'll be training with you guys, huh?" said Kate.

"That's the idea, but since you don't have the same style of fighting as we do, like Tyroth, you'll be allowed to watch from the sideline while the rest of us do the moves master Splinter tell us." said Leonardo. "During the sparing sessions, however, you're more than welcome to join in, it would be an experience for all of us."

"Better be careful then, guys, she's been working on her whip skills and is very good at it." said Tyroth.

"You should have seen when she took down a thug last week. Snatched his bat right out of his hand with her whip and hit him over the head with his own weapon, still stuck in the whip." said Sephie.

"I wonder who of us that you'll face, Kate." said Monalisa. "I'm not sure how I'll combat your whip with my fans."

"If it's any comfort, I don't have a bloody idea either." said the viper. "But I'm not gonna let any of you take me down without working for it."

"We'll see how that goes, 'cause I'm going easy on anyone, guest or not." said Raph.

* * *

At that time, Michelangelo and Shari had been talking for quite the while, getting to know each other better, even though Michelangelo originally had only planed to check up on her. But there was something special about her, something he couldn't put his finger on, something almost alluring.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now, before the guys start worrying about me. Can't leave those dudes alone for too long, you know." said Michelangelo as he stood up.

"I understand. It's getting late for me as well, so I think I'll head straight for bed. Can I see you again tomorrow night?"

"Sure, why not. I'll see you at the same time, unless I'm late."

"Then it's a date. I-I mean… uhm… I'll see you then." Shari said, blushing.

"Yeah… sure." said Michelangelo, also blushing.

After looking at each other in silence for a few seconds, the turtle made his way down to the alley the same way he took up, and swiftly entered the sewers. Picking up his skateboard, he returned to the lair, but not without doing a few tricks on the way to clear his head.

Once he was back home, he entered the lair and hurried over to the TV-area, where he saw his brothers, adoptive sister and friends hanging out.

"Heya guys! Who's up some Smash?" he shouted, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Kate.

"Wait! You're here?! I thought Jack was coming over, or maybe Percy."

"Don't ruin my first day here by talking about that fucking idiot, I've already had more than enough of him." Kate half-growled, but her expression quickly softened a bit. "But, if you still want to play that game, then you're on!" she then said with a wink.

 **Mikey and Shari seems to get along well, I wonder how this will play out for them. What do you think, people?**

 **And now Kate makes her debut in New York, thing's will get lively, that's for sure. And how will Mikey handle this? Check in next time. :)**

 **And don't forget to check out my Ghost Master fic, new chapter coming up in the days to come, and it's a big one. Happy Halloween! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Training**

Once Michelangelo had gotten over the shock of Kate being the extra guest that Tyroth and Sephie had brought with them, the young mutants started up the game and played for a while. The matches were quite even, though Michelangelo was still a bit shaken, and a little scared of Kate. The viper, on the other hand, seemed to soften up a bit when the orange-masked turtle was around. It was clear as day to everyone else that she liked Michelangelo, and Monalisa was really curious to see how things would develop between the two. She would also want to try and get the two mutants alone with each other whenever possible.

After a while, Splinter called his students over to the dojo, it was time for their training. They began with Splinter calling out various moves that the five ninja had to execute, all while their guests observed from the side. As usual, Sephie tried to copy their moves while memorizing the names of them, and Kate tried a few as well. Tyroth however, only observed, watching for small movements that could give the move away during a real fight, and thinking of how to best counter them.

The exercise continued for an hour, and once they were done, they moved on to sparring hand-to-hand, something that all could attend, even Tyroth, though most weren't too thrilled of sparring against him, he wasn't know as the most powerful mutant for nothing. But he promised that he wouldn't use fire or magic, as that would have been far too unfair.

Splinter thought for a while, deciding on who would train with who.

"Hmm. Leonardo, you spar with Kate. Raphael, you with Sephie. Donatello and Michelangelo. And finally, Monalisa with Tyroth. Hand-to-hand only, no weapons." he said.

Monalisa was a little hesitant to training with Tyroth, normally she would hate it if anyone held back while training with her, but after having seen what the dragon is capable of, even if he promised not to use his fire or magic, she had no problems with him going at least a little easy on her. But she wasn't the only one concerned about the pairing.

"You be careful with my mate, Tyroth." Raphael said, slightly worried.

"Don't worry, Raph, I won't use too much force, just enough for her not to win instantly. She can take care of herself even against powerful foes, so she'll be fine. And if I were you, I'd worry more of your own fight."

At first, Raphael wasn't sure what the dragon meant, but then he remembered that he would spar with Sephie, and since she had been training some Kung Fu with Monalisa, she was at least as dangerous as the Lizard Lady in close combat.

"Take your positions." Splinter said. "And begin!"

Kate opened with throwing a couple of punches at Leonardo, but he was able to parry them and retaliate with a swift kick. Kate managed to evade it by quickly stepping backwards and attacked again, punching, kicking and scratching at the turtle. Leonardo found that he actually had some difficulties against the viper, while her moves weren't really anything special, she was still lightning fast with them as well as her reflexes.

After blocking another of her attacks, Leonardo went on the offensive, striking at her with punches of his own, forcing her to block. He then followed up with a high kick, but this time Kate was prepared and caught his foot in her hands. Throwing Leonardo's foot upwards, she hoped to flip him onto his back, but it didn't go according to plan. Instead, Leonardo landed on a handstand and launched himself back at Kate, knocking her off her feet and pinning her down on the floor.

"Fuck!"

"You fought well, Kate, and you'll get more chances." said Leonardo, helping Kate back on her feet. "I actually think that you have potential as a ninja with your reflexes, if you're willing to learn."

"You think so? Maybe I will try then, we'll see."

* * *

Raphael wasn't having the easiest time against Sephie, the energetic gecko kept moving around erratically, striking at him whenever she found a window and evading his attacks when he tried to hit her. Blocking one of her punches, he tried to counter immediately with a punch of his own, only to have Sephie duck under it and delivered a sweeping kick at the turtle's feet. Doing a backflip, Raphael avoided the attack, and quickly launched himself at Sephie.

Jumping over Raphael to avoid his attack, Sephie used her gecko grip to latch on to his shell with her feet and her hands on the floor. Using all her strength to swiftly pull him over her, she tossed him almost halfway across the room once she released her grip on his shell. Raphael landed flat on his plastron.

"What the shell just happened?"

"I think that I won." said Sephie. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken."

* * *

Donatello skilfully defended against Michelangelo's attacks by blocking and dodging them, much to the annoyance of the youngest turtle, but he didn't let up, he continued to try and hit his brother to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to fully focus as part of his mind still hadn't accepted the fact that Kate was visiting them, and she scared him. But that was not all, another part also thought back to Shari.

Seeing Michelangelo's lack of concentration, Donatello took the opportunity to actually attack and placed a kick in Michelangelo's side. Stumbling a bit to regain his balance, Michelangelo snapped out of his myriad of thoughts and tried to focus more on the training. Lunging at Donatello, he missed when the purple-masked turtle stepped to the side and gave him a shove in the back as he passed, making him fall over.

"Not in the game today, Mikey?" Donatello asked.

"Something like that."

* * *

Monalisa was wary of fighting Tyroth, even without all his powers, he still had claws sharp enough to cause injuries akin to those from knifes and swords. She trusted that he wouldn't try to hurt her with them, but they both still needed to be careful none the less.

Deciding to make the first move, Monalisa dashed towards him and did a few of the moves they had trained earlier. But Tyroth had studied them as well and blocked all of them with a speed not expected of someone his size. He then countered with a swipe of his hand, forcing Monalisa to do a back-flip. Tyroth continued to punch and swipe at her, and she kept on dodging, but as the dragon did another straight punch, Monalisa jumped over it and landed on his arm, to his surprise. Before Tyroth could react, she took a few quick steps up his arm, jumped off and spun around, swatting him across the face with her tail.

While Tyroth shook off the hit, Monalisa landed a few feet away and dashed back to attack again, scoring a few hits on his torso with lightning fast strikes with her hands, utilizing the Snake Style Kung-Fu. But even though that style was effective on most opponents, Tyroth was different matter, capable off shrugging off most hits that could incapacitate others. The dragon countered with a quick slash, just barely missing Monalisa as she took a step back.

Still within arms reach and preparing for another attack, Monalisa was confused when she saw that Tyroth had stopped and his eyes widened while blushing, only to quickly turn away his head. Not sure what he was doing, Monalisa looked down and saw why he was acting as he did. His claws, while they hadn't hurt her in anyway, had cut through her top, and now most of her breasts were bare for him to see.

Monalisa cried out in shock and embarrassment, blushing greatly as she covered herself with her arms.

"Mona, I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't look!" Monalisa snapped, instinctively lashing out and slapping Tyroth across the face, taking him by such surprise that he lost his balance and fell to the floor.

"Oh god! I'm sorry, Tyroth! I didn't mean to!"

"It's okay, I kinda deserved that I guess."

"Mona! What happened?" Raphael asked as he and the others stopped their sparring when they heard her cry and hurried over.

"Whoa! Did you just take down Big T, big sis?" Michelangelo asked astounded.

"Not exactly… We had a little… mishap." she said, still covering her chest with her arms.

"What kind of mishap? You seem fine as far as I can see." said Donatello.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you? My top got torn. Why do you think I'm holding my arms like this?" she said, causing all of the guys to blush once they understood what she meant.

"Ah… right… okay… um… but you're not hurt, right?" said Leonardo.

"No, I'm fine, just… not decent at the moment. I need to change clothes and get this fixed."

"Then perhaps we should end tonight's training here then." said Splinter. "We will continue tomorrow night, hopefully without another incident."

Grateful for once that the training was cut short, Monalisa hurried to her and Raphael's room to find another top and hopefully mend the torn one.

"You okay, big guy?" Donatello asked, helping Tyroth back on his feet.

"I'm alright, just wasn't prepared for any of this to happen."

"Just how much did you see?" Raphael half demanded, Monalisa was his mate after all, and he wasn't about to allow anyone else see what she only showed to him.

"No more than a glimpse, I promise, and I averted my eyes immediately."

"Always the gentleman, huh?" said Michelangelo.

"A trait that's getting all the more rare these days, and I'm glad that you respected her that much, even if I didn't expect anything less." said Sephie.

"I don't see why I shouldn't, but can we leave this subject and do something else?"

"Well, I'm game for another round of Smash if anyone else is." said Kate.

"You're on!" said Michelangelo.

"One last tournament before bed then." said Leonardo. "Let's just wait for Mona to be done and maybe she will join us."

 **Seems training was cut a bit short today. What? It's not like mishaps don't happen during training, even in a small filler chapter.**

 **The story will continue, once Mona have changed into some whole clothes.**

 **Also, thanks to Bloodrayne666 for her suggestions that I worked into this chapter. See you all soon. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **A Close Call**

The next night, the mutants trained again, this time without any incidents. Monalisa had mended her top and it looked almost like new again, and Tyroth had promised to be more careful with his claws in the future. She didn't blame him for what happened, and apologized for accidentally slapping him when she freaked out. But they were good friends, so there was no ill will between them either way.

Once they were done, Michelangelo once again headed out for some sewer skating, and to meet Shari, but the last part was still a secret. Maybe one day he'd introduce her to his friends and family, but not yet, they still needed to get to know each other better first.

"Third night in a row that Mikey goes skating on his own, he must have some impressive tricks he's practising on." said Donatello.

"Three nights? I know he loves skating, but that does seem like more than usual." said Sephie.

"Maybe, but everyone's got their own hobbies, and at least he's doing something that gives him some exercise instead of just playing video-games or reading comic-books. Maybe we can join him next time, it's been a while since we all took a proper skate through the sewers." said Leonardo.

"Mind if we also tag along?" asked Sephie.

"Of course not, you're all more than welcome to join us." said Monalisa. "We got a few extra skateboards and roller-skates that you can use."

"I hope that you have something my size, otherwise I'm out of luck." said Tyroth.

"Yeah, I don't think any shops sell anything size Dragon." said Raphael.

"Leave that to me. I think I have an idea." said Donatello.

* * *

Meanwhile, Michelangelo had arrived at the apartment building where Shari lived, and made his way up to the rooftop. Shari was already there waiting for him, and casually paced back and forth.

"Hey, Shari." Michelangelo said as he got up on the rooftop, after carefully scanning the surroundings. "Sorry if I'm late, but we had some guests drop by yesterday."

"Mikey, you came back again." Shari said with a happy voice.

"Of course I did. I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did, and I'm happy that you kept your word. People that break a promise are among the worst that I can think of."

"Well, I may be a bit goofy, but I'd never break a promise."

"That's good to know, then I can trust you. You said something about guests, what kind of guests?"

"Oh, other mutants from out of town. Seriously good friends. We saved the world together once."

"Saved the world? You're exaggerating, right?"

"Nope, some ancient alien demons attacked, and we were the only ones that could stop them. Man, that wasn't easy, but we kicked their butts good."

"Wow. That's just unbelievable. Then you've already saved my life before we even met, your friends too. Where are they from, if they're not from New York?"

"Sorry, but I can't say. We all promised them not to tell anyone they don't know and trust yet."

"Oh, I understand." Shari said a bit disappointed.

"But, uhm… if you want, maybe I could introduce you to them. I'm sure the dudes and dudettes will like you."

"You would do that for me? That's very so sweet of you! I would love to meet them. But, do they know about me?"

"Um… no. I haven't told them of you, at least not yet. I wanna take it slow with them, so they don't freak out, we're supposed to stay hidden you know."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but still, I would like to meet them as soon as possible all the same. Anyway, tell me a little more about yourself, what do you like to do?"

"Oh the usual, comic books, video-games, beating up bad guys, hanging out with the others, party. That kind of stuff. We've even been able to go on real parties with humans."

"Really? How did you manage that?"

"Masquerade parties, no-one can tell us from those in costumes. It's the only time that we can move around freely among humans. It's awesome to bust out some dance moves in public like that."

"You like dancing then?"

"I do, yeah, and I'm good at break-dancing. What about you?"

"I'm decent I suppose, though not at break-dancing, but I've always preferred the slower, softer dances, where you're close to your dance-partner."

"That's not really my style, and I can't get the moves right for it either."

"Well, I could teach you… right now… if you let me, that is." said Shari with a faint blush.

"Y-you would? Uhm… sure… why not? It's worth a shot, ain't it?" said Michelangelo, blushing as well.

Standing in the middle of the rooftop, Shari began to instruct Michelangelo on how to move. They both blushed greatly when they took each others' hands to begin practising, stumbling a little as they slowly moved around.

* * *

Underground, Donatello had made a pair of improvised roller-skates for Tyroth, by basically tying a smaller skateboard to each of his feet. It wasn't pretty, but it seemed to work when he tried skating with them. It was a little wobbly at first, but after a while, he had gotten used to them and it seemed to go well. Seeing that Tyroth now had his own set of wheels, the others decided that they might just as well go skating as well. Kate was borrowed a pair of roller-skates while Sephie was given a skateboard, and the others grabbed their own wheels and headed out.

Zooming through the sewers, the mutants were having a great time, while trying to see if they could find Michelangelo on the way. Though, not everyone was having as good of a time as the others. Tyroth was able to keep up with the others, but whenever he tried any kind of the stunts that the others did, he would end up on the ground. Even just going up on the walls a bit resulted in him falling.

"Not your day today, is it Big T?" said Raphael.

"Sure seems that way. Didn't think I'd be this bad at skating, I used to go ice-skating a lot as a kid, but I must have lost my touch."

"I think that there's more working against you than just a lack of practice. You got more mass than the rest of us, so you need more speed for the tricks, which is harder to get because of your mass." said Donatello.

"If I didn't understand what you just said, I would have thought that you were calling me fat in scientific terms." Tyroth replied. "Guess I'll settle for just rolling along then. If I reach the speed needed, there is no guaranty that I'll be able to stop before running over any of you, or into a wall or something."

"That's too bad, love. Maybe we should do something else instead." said Sephie.

"Let's just continue, I'll do my best to keep up with those of you that have the skills."

"Speaking of which, you girls are doing very well. Do you skate back in Mutopia?" said Monalisa.

"Some do, but not us." said Sephie. "I've tried using a skateboard before, but I've always had trouble staying on it. Since becoming a gecko though, I got the best grip in the world, so all I have to do is mimic the rest of the skaters."

"What about you, Kate? You handle those roller-skates like a pro." said Leonardo.

"I've had some training. Back when I was human, years before I mutated, I took a job at a restaurant as a waitress. Fucking hated that job, but I needed the money. Anyway, they had a fifties or sixties theme going, so all waitresses wore roller-skates. Serving customers like that was a hellish nightmare, and those damned dresses were fucking awful. Every other old goat tried to grope us if we weren't quick enough to get out of reach, so we had to be good with skates, not only for serving."

"No wonder you're skilled then, you would have to be in that situation." said Monalisa. "Kinda reminds me of the time we worked at the inn in Skyrim."

"That was an interesting day to say the least, not to mention when Mikey invented the pizza there." said Tyroth.

"Speaking of Mikey, wonder where he is. I thought that we would have bumped into him by now." said Sephie.

"So did I. He must have headed somewhere else then." said Leonardo.

"Hey, isn't that his skateboard over there?" said Raphael, pointing at a part of the wall further down the tunnel. And sure enough, there was Mikey's skateboard, securely wedged between a few pipes next to a ladder to a manhole. It seemed like he had gone topside, but for what reason?

* * *

Topside, on the rooftop, Michelangelo and Shari had just finished practising.

"You learn quick, Mikey, a few more times and I think you got it." Shari said with a smile.

"You think so? Well, I got a good teacher after all." said Michelangelo with a blush, and his compliment made Shari blush as well.

"I don't know about that, but thank you. But the next time, maybe you can try not to step on my feet as much."

"Sorry about that, my bad." he said sheepishly. As he tried to think of something to say, the clouds in the sky parted enough for the full moon to be seen. "Hey, the moon's out."

"I don't think I've actually watched the moon, or the night sky, properly since I moved here. It looks so pretty."

"Me and the others stargaze every now and then. How about we do that tomorrow night if the weather's good? I know a place not far from here."

"That's so kind of you to offer, I'd love that."

"Great! But now I have to scram, or my brothers will start wondering where the shell I am, but I'll be back tomorrow night, okay?"

"Okay. But before you go, could you stay for just another minute? And watch the moon together with me? Please?"

"Well… I really should be going… but sure, I can stay a little while longer."

But as the two stood together, looking at the beautiful moon, three pair of eyes watched them from a nearby rooftop, hidden in the shadows. A trio of Foot ninja. They continued to observe as Michelangelo left and headed back into the sewers, while Shari remained on the roof for a while longer.

* * *

Climbing down the ladder, Michelangelo was completely oblivious to that the others were below. As such, he almost jumped out of his shell when Leonardo made their presence known.

"Mikey?"

"Aaahh!" the youngest turtle yelled, turning around quickly. "What the shell, dude?! What are you guys doing here?!"

"We were trying out Tyroth's new set of wheels when we saw your skateboard." said Monalisa. "What were you doing topside?"

"Uhm… I, uhm… I wanted some fresh air, then I lost track of time watching the stars and moon, but they're covered by clouds now, so I decided to head back home."

"Okay then, how about we all head back together then? We can take a slightly longer way to skate some more, if all are for it." said Donatello.

"Why the fuck not, let's do this!" said Kate enthusiastically.

 **A rather soft and tender moment for Mikey and Shari, the others skating a bit on their own, or trying at least. Not too bad of a chapter.**

 **But Mikey was almost caught by the others, and the Foot has now seen him and Shari together. Things might just get hectic now.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Plans**

Back in the lair, after some more training, the young mutants had the rest of the night free to spend as they wished, and while they would head topside for a late patrol, they still had a few hours. During this time, as they all found something to do, Monalisa noticed Michelangelo and Kate giving each other looks when they thought that the other one wasn't watching, but Monalisa saw it clearly. The looks given by Kate were affectionate but shy, almost like that of a school girl, a very strong contrast to her usual self.

The looks that Michelangelo gave Kate, on the other hand, were not very affectionate, but rather it was closer to fearful, and not without reason. While Kate had been a bit flirty towards the youngest turtle when he first stayed in Mutopia, he didn't seem to know what to think of it at the time, and Kate did have a temper rivalling that of Raphael. And venom.

But now that Michelangelo was longing for a mate of his own, and even had unwillingly looked at Monalisa, he had a certain glint in his eyes whenever he looked at Kate, hidden behind the fear and respect. Monalisa was fairly certain she knew what it was, but so far it didn't seem like the two would find each other, at least not on their own. But Monalisa had promised herself not force the two together, she really wanted to help her little brother more actively. If only there were some way of getting them together without it seeming too suspicious. Then, an opportunity dawned on her. They would go on patrol later, and while the chances were small, it wasn't impossible that Michelangelo and Kate could end up in the same group, maybe even alone.

'Now if only Leo could put them together, it would be perfect.' Monalisa thought to herself. 'Maybe if one of us suggested that it would be good if we were paired up with unlikely partners, then at least the chance would be higher. But who? Hmm… Of course!'

With an idea in mind, she walked into the dojo, and found the mutant she was looking for, Tyroth, who was lifting some weights.

"Hey, Tyroth." she said, catching his attention.

"Oh, hi, Mona. Just one moment" the dragon responded, and put down the barbell with the large amount of weights.

"Just how much is that?" Monalisa asked.

"Don't really know. Wanted to see how much I can lift, so I just took all of the heaviest disks I could find. Think it's around half a tonne or so, maybe more. But I doubt that you came here to discuss weightlifting, and I hope that it isn't about that accident the other day. I'm still very sorry about that."

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean to do it, but you're right, it's not about any of that. I wanted to talk with you about you-know-what." she said, looking around to make sure that they were alone.

"I see. Okay, I'm listening, what's on your mind?"

"You see, I've been thinking of a way to get Mikey and Kate alone together, and I've gotten an idea, but I might need some help from you. Later, when we go on patrol, if they were put in the same group, maybe something might take root. Leo is the one that decides the groups, but since you're also a team leader, you could talk to him and suggest that we have partners that we normally don't."

"Like Mikey and Kate, yeah, I see where you're going, Mona. That could just work. I'll have a word with Leo and see what happens. But do you really think they can become a couple?"

"I do actually. I've seen the way Kate looks at Mikey, and it's clear that she has some feelings for him, even if he hasn't given her the same looks, but I still think it's possible."

"Good enough for me, it's worth a shot at least, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Tyroth. And could you say that it was your idea? So that no one gets any ideas about the reason why."

"Sure."

* * *

Leonardo sat in his room, meditating in the peaceful solitude, when he was woken from it by a knock on the door.

"It's open." he said. The door opened and Tyroth walked in.

"Hi, Leo. Hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Not at all, I was just meditating a little. What can I do for you."

"I just had a thought, about tonight's patrol." Tyroth then continued by explaining what Monalisa had told him, and Leonardo listen closely.

"Mix it up a little, huh? That's not a bad idea. Do you have any ideas of what kind of pairs we should try?" said the turtle.

"One or two, still working on it. It's a bit troublesome since you guys are five, while we are three, so one pair will be only you guys, but it can't be helped. Either way, I was thinking maybe me and Donnie, and perhaps Kate and… let's say Mikey."

"Interesting pairs. That leaves the girls, Raph and me, so no matter how we mix, there will be at least one pair that has been tried before, just like you said. If we go with those pairs you suggested so far, then I'd pair up Raph and Sephie, which leaves me and Mona."

"Doesn't sound too bad if you ask me. If you're alright with it, then I say that we try it tonight."

"I agree. This should be interesting." said Leonardo.

'You have no idea.' Tyroth thought to himself.

* * *

Later that night, when the mutants headed out on patrol, Leo did split them into four pairs, just like he and Tyroth had talked about earlier. The others didn't mind the new exercise, though a few weren't overly happy with their partner, such as Raphael, who wanted to be with Monalisa, and Michelangelo, who felt a bit uncomfortable being alone with Kate. Never the less, they stuck with the pairs and headed out in different directions, with Michelangelo and Kate moving North.

For the better part of half an hour, the two reptiles jumped across the rooftops in an awkward silence, neither really knowing what to say to each other, and with no criminal activity to deal with, there was nothing to break the silence. Eventually, they stopped for a quick rest, and at that point, Kate couldn't continue to be quiet.

"Where the hell are all the crooks tonight? I was itching for a good fight." she said.

"Maybe they're all on vacation." Michelangelo said jokingly. Now, had Raphael been there, Michelangelo would have gotten a whack on the head, and he expected the same from Kate. But to his surprise, it never came, and what more, Kate actually seemed to enjoy the joke as she giggled for a few seconds. But she quickly stopped and cleared her throat, and it seemed like she actually blushed a bit. Michelangelo was confused, he had never expected someone like Kate to giggle, and definitively not a cute giggle.

"Did you just giggle?"

"N-no… I… Fuck... Okay I giggled. And don't you fucking dare tell anyone."

"W-who, me? D-don't worry, I won't." Michelangelo replied with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. But please don't tell anyone. Percy would never let me hear the end of it if he knew that I giggle."

"It's cool, I just didn't expect you to. But I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"Thanks, Mikey."

"You don't seem like the kind to giggle. Can I ask why?"

"No." she said sharply. "It's part of my past, and that's nobody's business."

"Okay, sorry, I won't ask again." Michelangelo apologized.

"Look, you're a nice guy, but this is too personal for me to be comfortable to share with anyone, not even the others. One day maybe, but not now."

"It's okay. Got any ideas for what to do when we get back to the lair?" he said, trying to change the subject.

"Maybe a movie or something."

While the two mutants talked, they were unaware of that they were being watched. A group of Foot ninja had spotted the reptiles while on their own patrol, and now observed them from a nearby rooftop.

"That's one of the turtles!" said one of the ninja.

"But who's he with? Is it that lizard whore?" asked a second.

"No, and it's not the other lizard either. This is a mutant we've never seen before." said a third.

"First the dragon and his whore, and now this freak. They are really crawling out of the woodworks. We should bring her to lord Arashi, I'm certain he will reward us." said a fourth. Many ninja nodded in agreement.

Moving swiftly through the shadows, the dozen or so Foot ninja made their way toward their intended victims, unsheathing their weapons when they were close enough.

 **It seems like Kate is starting to soften up, more so than one would expect. And Mona continue to try and pair up her and Mikey, how will it go, I wonder, as they are all in the dark regarding Shari.**

 **Blasted Foot! They show up when you need them the least, which is all the time. Our friends may be in quite the bind. Check back for the next chapter to see the conclusion.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **The Foot's Involvement**

Moving swiftly through the shadows, the dozen or so Foot ninja made their way toward their intended victims, unsheathing their weapons when they were close enough. A sneak attack would easily take down the two mutants, and with the mutants busy talking, that wouldn't be difficult to pull off.

And it would have worked, had it not been for a pigeon's nest, hidden behind one of the small air intakes. As the ninja moved towards the mutants, they startled the birds, which flew away.

Hearing the flapping wings, Michelangelo and Kate immediately turned towards the sound and saw the Foot ninja, now rushing towards them.

"Shit! Where did they come from!?" Michelangelo cried out, as he and Kate drew their weapons.

"That's what I get for wishing for a fight!" said Kate, avoiding a slash from a katana by jumping to the side. She quickly followed up with a swift lash of her whip, striking the wrist of the man's sword arm. Sharp pain shoot through the hand, causing the ninja to cry out in pain and drop his katana, giving Kate the opportunity she needed to knock him out with a well placed punch.

But that was only one ninja, there were still at least another ten, and even if the mutants were skilled, the odds were not in their favour, something Michelangelo knew, as he kept striking out with his nunchaku at some of the Foot ninja. Doing a wide swipe with his weapons to force the ninja back, he quickly reached for his shell-cell and pressed the emergency button, signalling the others that he was in trouble. However he had barely activated the tracking-beacon, when a pair of shuriken struck his shell-cell, rendering it useless.

"Hey! I needed that!" he protested.

Jumping over a couple of ninja to avoid another, he did a split-kick and knocked them on their backs. When he landed, yet another ninja stood in his way, armed with a kama. But before any of them could do anything, there was a loud crack, and the ninja cried out in pain. Michelangelo quickly kicked the ninja in the stomach and then hit him on the head. Standing behind the fallen ninja, was Kate, she had struck him across the back with her whip, leaving a painful mark on the skin. Her skill with the whip was impressive, as she was able to keep the ninja at bay, but it was far from a lethal weapon, so while the hits stung like hell, that was about it.

Still, the two mutants fought back-to-back, Michelangelo striking hands and heads, and Kate using her whip to stun them and even snatch the weapons from some ninja, giving the Foot ninja a good beating, but despite their good efforts, they were still outnumbered. And more ninja arrived on the scene, further decreasing the mutants' odds, but they kept fighting as best they could, with both weapons, hand and feet, taking down a few more ninja.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud roar south of them, causing them all to stop fighting and look in that direction. All the Foot ninja became very nervous and started to back away, they all knew that roar, and of the one it belonged to.

Another roar, this time closer, and the combatants could see something in the sky, moving towards them.

"The dragon!" one ninja yelled in terror, remembering the slaughter that had happened last time the Foot and the dragon clashed. Moments later, Tyroth landed with Donatello in his arms, letting the purple-masked turtle down before drawing his sword, Ryujin. Setting his eyes on the scared Foot ninja, he started to glow red, as did his sword, only for the blade to burst into flames.

"Screw this! I'm out of here!" one ninja yelled and fled the field.

"Cowards and cretins got five seconds to leave before I slaughter you all!" the dragon half-roared. "Five! Four!"

The ninja knew that he wasn't joking, and that they didn't stand a chance against both him and three other mutants. As they was given the opportunity to escape with their lives, they quickly collected their unconscious comrades and left as fast as they could, not even noticing that Tyroth had stopped counting. A very short while later, the ninja were out of sight.

"Wimps." Tyroth growled, then turned to Michelangelo and Kate. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Big T. But, how did you find us? They wrecked my shell-cell." said Michelangelo.

"Thank Donnie for that, he activated the locator in Kate's shell-cell and tracked you here."

"Thanks bro."

"WHAT?" Donatello yelled, holding his hand by his ear.

"He can't hear a thing at the moment. I failed to warn him of the roar, so his hearing is gone for the moment. Sorry about that, Donnie." said Tyroth.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I CAN SEE THAT YOU'RE SAYING SOMETHING, BUT I CAN'T HEAR WHAT!"

"Is he gonna be fine?" Kate asked.

"I think so, though it will take a while."

"No kidding. You got some serious pipes, Tyroth. I still remember when we fled from those creepy cave elves, and you almost brought down the cave just by roaring at them."

"Yeah, I remember it too. But let's get out of here, I don't think anyone failed to notice my entrance."

* * *

On their way back, the met up with the others and quickly headed down into the sewers, Michelangelo telling them all, with the exception of the still temporary hearing impaired Donatello, what had happened.

"They snuck up on us, but we still held them off real good, and we would have beaten them too, if they hadn't gotten reinforcements. Good thing we got some of our own when we did."

"We got lucky, and so were those fuckers. Next time I see them, they'll taste my venom." said Kate.

"At least no one was harmed." said Leonardo.

"WHAT? SPEAK UP, I THINK MY HEARING'S COMING BACK!" Donatello shouted.

"Well, almost no one." said Sephie, covering her ear on the side towards Donatello.

"I'm rather worried of why there were so many Foot ninja in one place all of a sudden." said Monalisa. "They've been rather quiet for a while."

"That they're quiet is never a good sign to start with." said Leonardo. "But knowing that Tyroth is back in town might keep them calm, considering how their last encounter ended."

"Yeah, after that battle, they were left rather short on ninja." said Raphael. "I can't see them trying to pull anything like what they did that time again, at least not any time soon."

"Still, we'd best be careful and keep our eyes and ears open. Arashi and Arden are always up to something." said Leonardo.

* * *

A little while later, in the Foot Headquarters, the group of ninja had returned to deliver their report to Arashi, a task that none of them were looking forward to. In fact, they were so afraid of his reaction, that they drew straws on who would have the 'pleasure' of telling him.

Nervously, the poor 'winner' entered the throne room alone, and approached his lord.

"M-my lord Arashi, I bring you a report." the ninja said, kneeling in front of the throne.

Arashi put down his cup of sake and looked at the man. It was clear that something significant had happened, something that wasn't in favour of the Foot, or at least the squad of ninja that had returned.

"Speak." Arashi said coldly, his gaze never leaving the ninja.

"We encountered two of the freaks while on our mission, we engaged them, but... failed to either capture or kill any of them."

"You failed?" Arashi repeated in an upset tone. "You are aware of how failures are dealt with, are you not?" he asked, his hand now resting on the handle of his new sword.

"Yes. But it was not our fault, master. The dragon arrived and aided them."

"He's back again?"

"He is, my lord, and against such a monster, we wouldn't have stood a chance, so we chose to retreat."

Arashi didn't say anything as he remembered his last encounter with the powerful mutant, especially how much his possibly magical powers had grown since the time before that. He fully understood the reason behind the retreat, he would have done the same. One does not engage the dragon without a plan, and even then it's risky to say the least.

"I see, that puts things in a different perspective. Very well, you will not be punished, this time."

"Thank you, master." the ninja said, feeling very relieved. "But there is one more thing, my lord. The mutants we found, one was one of the turtles, the one with the orange mask, but the other one was a female reptile that we have never seen before."

"A new mutant? You are certain that you did mistake one of the lizard whores for this 'new' one."

"Positive, my lord, she looked completely different, the scales were not green, but sand coloured. We do not know what reptile she might be, but she fought alongside the turtle, with a whip."

"A whip, you say? Interesting, but it matters not at the moment. You are dismissed."

The ninja bowed and quickly left the throne room, leaving Arashi to think about the recent events.

'So there is a new mutant, that is very interesting. It is unfortunate that the dragon would return now of all times though, after the death of his sister, he must be out for vengeance.' Arashi thought, remembering Arden's words, that Jennifer would perish without her regular treatments after her modifications by the hands of the doctor.

'Regardless, we will continue with the plan, and be prepared for the possibility that the dragon attacks us again.'

 **That was a close call for Mikey and Kate, but the timely arrival of their dragon friend sent the Foot running, as the still fear the dragon, and with all right. But it seems like Arashi has something planned, just like Leonardo suspects.**

 **Also, bonus points to those that can find a certain reference in this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Discovered**

Rummaging through his collection of films, Michelangelo was trying to find something good to watch after their run-in with the Foot earlier that night. While he did however, Kate entered the room.

"Hey, Mikey."

"Oh, hi, Kate. What's up?"

"Nothing special, I just wanted to thank you for watching my back during the fight."

"Don't mention it, it was my pleasure."

"Enjoyed the view then, huh?" Kate said with a mischievous smile.

"What? No! I… that is… I mean… I didn't..." Michelangelo half panicked, blushing quite a lot as he tried to explain himself, with no success, but Kate only laughed at him.

"You're a fun guy, you know that, right? I like that."

"You do? Well… thanks, I guess."

"So, find any good films?"

"A few, yeah, what do you think, Avengers or Return of the Mummy?"

"Don't think I've watched Return of the Mummy before, have seen the first one though. It was a bit creepy sometimes, but I liked it."

"Then that's the one we take. Hope the other's don't mind."

"Can't see that it would be any problem. But, Mikey, do you think maybe we can do something together sometime? Just the two of us?"

"You and me? I guess, but why just us?"

"I like you and would like to get to know you a little better. And since those fuckers interrupted us when we talked earlier, I thought that maybe we could continue or maybe play a game together, or skate a while."

"That doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I think we can hog the TV for a couple of rounds of Mortal Kombat or Smash tomorrow night. If that's okay with you."

"Sure, I'm game for that." Kate said with a warm smile, and for a while, Michelangelo didn't feel as scared of the viper as he used to, maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

The next night, after completing their training, Michelangelo once again headed out skating, going to meet up with Shari. But his activities didn't go completely unnoticed, both Monalisa and Sephie were growing suspicious of him, and against better judgement, they decided to follow him.

"This is the fourth night in a row that Mikey goes skating, and roughly at the same time too. Something isn't quite right here." Monalisa whispered as the two lizards stealthily hurried after the turtle.

"I know what you mean, it feels almost as when Tyroth was blackmailed by Arashi not too long ago, but I can't believe that something like that would happen to Mikey."

"No, he wouldn't be able to handle something like that, he would break under that kind of pressure. This is something else, but I can't figure out what."

"Wait… does this place look familiar to you too?" Sephie asked. Monalisa looked around and she too recognized the area they ran through.

"You're right. We're near where we found Mikey's skateboard the other day."

"Speaking of Mikey, I think we lost him."

"Look again, Sephie. Over there." Monalisa pointed to the wall further ahead of them. It was the exact same place where they had found the skateboard wedged between the pipes near the ladder, and it was once again.

"Okay, there is definitely something going on. Let's go up somewhere else and see if we can find him."

Backtracking a few blocks, the two lizard girls climbed up into a dark alley, from there, they continued up onto the rooftops, stealthy and completely unseen by any humans that walked the streets of New York. Letting their gazes sweep the surroundings, they soon found Michelangelo not far from where he had surfaced.

He was standing in plane sight, not making any noticeable effort to hide from prying eyes. Granted, not many humans went onto the rooftops at this time, even if it was still rather early, but the Foot could easily spot him.

Monalisa and Sephie quickly moved to a rooftop adjacent to the one Michelangelo was on, being extra careful not to be detected. Hiding behind the edge, they kept a close eye on the orange-masked turtle.

"What is he doing? It looks almost as if he's waiting for something." Sephie whispered.

"This is getting stranger by the minute. I wonder-"

"Look! The door's opening!"

They saw the door open, and Michelangelo quickly taking cover in the shadows, then a young woman stepped out on the roof, and once she had closed the door behind her, Michelangelo stepped out of the shadows and greeted her, to the great surprise of the two mutant girls.

"Who is that? I can't remember hearing anything about her." Sephie said in a very hushed voice.

"I don't know, I've never seen her before. And she doesn't match any of the other human friends that the turtles have told me about."

* * *

As Monalisa and Sephie kept a close eye on Michelangelo and the young woman, the turtle and human had started talking, completely oblivious that they were being spied upon by the lizards.

"Thank you for coming again." Shari said. "It must be difficult to come see me every night."

"Don't mention it. I just told the others that I was going skating, like I did the other nights. I do that sometimes either way."

"That's clever of you, but when do you think I can meet them? I'm so very curious to how they are like, and what they'll think of me."

"I'm not sure, I'd like to introduce you right away, but I'm not sure if they're ready, or if we're ready for that matter."

"Okay, I understand. It can't be easy for someone like you to be around a normal human."

"Yeah, most humans freak out when they see us, but we're used to keep hidden, but it sure is boring. Speaking of boring, we were gonna do something fun tonight. Remember?"

"Oh yeah! You knew a good place for stargazing, didn't you? But, how do we get there?"

"Well… I hadn't really thought about that, to be honest. We mostly get from place to place either by going through the sewers, or jumping across the rooftops."

"Jumping? Across the rooftops? You can jump that far?" Shari asked, slightly wide eyed, impressed by Michelangelo's claim.

"It takes some effort, but we're stronger than humans, so we can make that kind of jumps, but I'm not sure how you're gonna be able to get there."

"I'm not very keen on going through the sewers. I know you said it wasn't that bad, but still. Maybe I could take a cab there, but it was high up, was it not?"

"It was, yeah, but I got an idea. I could carry you while I make the jumps."

"You can? Are you sure? I mean, it's pretty far between buildings."

"Shouldn't be that hard, I clear those jumps easily, though, I'll have to put a little extra into them if I'm carrying you. That is, if you trust me."

"Of course I trust you, I'm just a little worried that something might happen anyway."

"Don't worry, I'll hold you tight, if you still want to do this."

"I do, just… just let me get mentally prepared first."

Once Shari felt that she was ready, Michelangelo picked her up bridal style. They both blushed as he held her close to his chest, and Michelangelo once again felt her sweet perfume. The sweet fragrance of vanilla and roses was almost a bit intoxicating, but Michelangelo shook it off so he could focus on making the jumps. He was kind of nervous, jumping while carrying someone wasn't easy, but he believed that he could do it.

Taking a running start, he made the first jump, and as he did, he felt Shari press herself against him, and his heart almost skipped a beat. But they were not the only ones moving across the rooftops, Monalisa and Sephie followed them at a distance, being far too curious to leave well enough alone, even though they knew that they should. Ten minutes later, Michelangelo had made his way to one of the taller buildings, and let Shari down. Her legs were a bit wobbly at first, but that passed quickly. The two lizards had stopped on a neighbouring roof, continuing to spy on them.

"Wow! This is incredible!" Shari said, looking at the starry night-sky. That high up, it was almost completely free from the light pollution from below.

"Sure is cool, huh? We do things like this every now and then, just chilling and looking at the stars."

"I understand why you like it. I don't think I've ever seen them so clear before. Thank you, for doing this for me, Mikey." she said, standing next to the turtle.

"You don't have to thank me." he said, blushing a bit.

"Yes I do. You saved me from those ruffians, you have been coming to meet me every night since then, and now you do this for me." she said, turning to face Michelangelo and placing her hand on his cheek. "You're the nicest guy I have ever met, and I just can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me, even though you didn't know me."

"Shari, I..." he began, but he was so taken aback that he couldn't find the words.

Shari leaned closer to him, and Michelangelo felt himself drawn closer as well, both by his own will and by her hand on his cheek gently pulling him in. His heart beat faster and his pulse raced as their faces nearly touched, blushing greatly when he looked into her eyes, feeling her breath against his lips.

They both closed their eyes and their lips met.

His first kiss. It was heavenly. Time almost seemed to stop as he felt her soft lips against his, he could never have imagined that it would feel so good to kiss a girl.

On the next roof over, Sephie and Monalisa looked on with eyes wide and their jaws had dropped, they were so stunned that they couldn't have made a sound even if their lives depended on it. They couldn't believe what they just had seen, it was just too unreal. The goofy and carefree Michelangelo and a human girl, and they kissed each other.

It took a few moments for the lizards to regain their senses and actually be able to think clearly again. With a lot to process, they decided to head back home, and they didn't want to intrude. Quietly and quickly, they made their way down to street level and entered the sewers in an empty alley.

"Did we just see what we saw?" Sephie asked after a few minutes of silently going over everything, but still not believing it.

"I'm honestly not sure, but I think we did." said Monalisa, still just as shocked as her friend. "They kissed..."

"Mikey's got a girlfriend… a human girlfriend… I… I… I don't even know what to think about that!"

"Me neither. I couldn't imagine this, not even in my wildest dreams."

"And I that thought he and Kate was starting to get along well too."

"Oh no... Kate! What will she think of this?" said Monalisa, worried about how the viper would take the news that the guy she fancied had chosen someone else, remembering how Leonardo had reacted when she picked Raphael.

"Shit! She might go after that girl if she gets really mad. What should we do?"

"I don't know. This has all gotten so complicated now."

* * *

Back topside, Michelangelo and Shari held each other close as they continued to watch the stars. They seemed to have a different glow about them as opposed to before the kiss. Michelangelo was happier than he had been for a long time and he felt at peace, but that couldn't last forever, at least not at that time. It was starting to get cold, so he thought it was best to take Shari back to her home, and head back to the lair himself. He didn't have a thought on what he would say to the others when he inevitably had to tell them about Shari, it didn't matter at that time.

Carrying Shari back to her apartment, he held her extra close on the way there. Once he reached her home, they said good bye, but before he left, he was given another kiss, this time on his cheek. Blushing like crazy, Michelangelo went down into the alley and the manhole, leaving Shari on the rooftop, as she watched him slide the lid back in place.

However, from the shadows on another rooftop, emerged several Foot ninja. Having kept watch over the building, they waited until the turtle had left before making their move. Swiftly and without a sound, they moved from their hiding place and onto the rooftop where Shari was just about to enter the door and go to her apartment, but she never reached the door as the ninja appeared as if from nowhere and blocked her path.

"Master Arashi wishes to speak with you." said one ninja.

 **Wow! Mikey just got his first kiss! Now things are really heating up around here. But that kind of news won't sit well with Kate, and that viper has a temper.**

 **Bet you're all glad that Shari wasn't in any danger after we last saw her, and angry now that she is. Don't go anywhere, this will keep on getting complicated.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Secret Revealed**

Entering the lair again, Monalisa and Sephie were at a loss on what to do with what they had just witnessed. Both of them were happy for Michelangelo's sake, especially Monalisa, but they were also worried of what might come of him having a human girlfriend. They had nothing against her being human, since they both used to be human, but they couldn't ignore that this relationship would be difficult for both Michelangelo and the girl. Something like this had never happened before, so they had no clue on how to handle it.

They could just have been supportive of it, welcoming the girl into their lives and getting to know her, but there were two things that would make all of that difficult. The first was Kate, they both knew she liked the goofy turtle, more so than just as a friend, and the fact that he now had met another girl with the same feelings, that he also felt the same for, would not be kind news for the viper, and they worried for how she might react.

The second thing was the Foot. Human friends of the turtles were always at some form of risk because of Arashi and his ilk, if they learned of this girl, they would be on her like a pack of rabid wolfs, and use her to get to Michelangelo and the rest of the mutants. They might even go as far as they did with Jennifer, brainwashing and turning her into a monstrous weapon for them to use.

"Got any bright ideas, Mona? 'Cause I'm only drawing blanks at the moment."

"Only one, and that's to talk with Master Splinter, but I don't want to do that. This is a very private matter, we shouldn't even know about it, so if anyone is to talk with Master Splinter about this, it's Mikey."

"I wonder just how long this has been going on, and when he was planing on telling us, he can't keep something like this a secret forever."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same. But no matter what, we can't tell anyone of what we saw."

"Not even Tyroth?"

"Well, he is in on this too. And he's also the only one that can restrain Kate without fear of her venom, should it come to that. Might be a good idea to tell him, just in case."

"Okay. Maybe he can come up with something. Otherwise, we just have to wait and see what happens."

It was then that the two lizards noticed that the lair seemed empty, with the Tyroth and the turtles nowhere in sight. Splinter was most likely resting in his quarters, he usually did at that time, but where could the others be?

Taking a short while to listen, they soon found sounds coming from the dojo and walked there to see what it was.

Walking into the dojo, they saw the turtles pulling on a rope, with Tyroth holding on to the other end. It seemed like they were having a tug of war, and while it was clear that Tyroth had to work not loose, the three turtles were giving it their all, with little to no effect.

"Nngh! Come on, guys, put your shells into it!" said Raphael.

"We are, Raph, we are!" said Leonardo.

Tyroth smiled at the turtles' attempt to pull him over the middle-line they had drawn, and he could feel that they were trying their hardest, but that wasn't enough. With his strong arms, he started pulling back the rope, and the turtles with it, as they slowly slid over the floor, despite their best efforts.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." said Donatello as they were being pulled closer to the line. Then Tyroth gave the rope a quick and powerful yank, pulling the three brothers off their feet so hard that they landed on their faces as they were now past the line.

"Nice try, guys. You aren't hurt are you?" said Tyroth, walking over to the turtles.

"Only our pride." said Raphael, as they got back up and dusted off themselves. "You're like a tow-truck, you know that?"

"There is a reason that dragons were at the top of the food-chain when they still lived." the dragon replied with a smile.

"So we've noticed." said Donatello. "I really thought we could overpower you by working together, but it seems I was wrong."

"Don't feel bad about it, you guys gave me a good run for my money. Had Mikey been with you, you might just have won."

"Speaking of Mikey, where is he? Do you think he's still out skating?" said Leonardo.

"He must be, it's been calm around here, pleasant even." said Raphael.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing?" Monalisa asked, making her and Sephie's presence known to the guys.

"Hi, girls. We were just trying to beat Big T here." said Raphael.

"Where have you two been by the way, we haven't seen you for a while." said Leonardo.

"We felt like doing some exercises, so we went for a jog in the sewer." Sephie answered.

"So you had some excess energy as well, huh? Why didn't you tell us?" Donatello asked.

"They did, they told both me and Kate just before they left." said Tyroth.

"Speaking of Kate, where is she? We haven't seen her since we came back." said Monalisa.

"I think she's still in her room." said Leonardo. "After training, she came to me for some pointers on her eventual ninja training. Once we were done, she said she would think about it while listening to some music."

"Ninja training? For Kate?" Sephie asked surprised.

"Yeah, I think she has potential, so I offered her advice the other day."

"I'm getting the feeling that Percy will have to be extra careful from here on out." said Sephie. "But how about we grab something to eat, I'm quite hungry."

"That's sounds like a fine idea, I'll see what I can whip up. Who's up for some flambé?" said Tyroth, and the group headed to the kitchen.

* * *

Kate was lying in her bed in the guest room, thinking about what Leonardo had told her and listening to 'I Love Rock'n'Roll' on an MP3.

Ninja training didn't sound that bad, but it was a lot of work, that was for sure, yet it might work well with her skills. The main problem with it was that such training would take a long time to fully 'complete', and she and the other Mutopians was only staying for another few days, so unless they could fit all she needed to learn in that short time, she might miss something important. Still, it would give her a reason to come back, and spend more time with Michelangelo, and she was all for that.

She was even thinking about maybe moving in with the turtles, but that was a big thing, and something that was bound to come up one way or another, with either her or Michelangelo moving somewhere. That is, if he warmed up enough to have the same feelings for her, as she had for him, and they had grown since she arrived in New York.

As the song ended, she noticed a faint scent of cooked food, and her stomach made her aware to her hunger. Turning off the music-player, she got up and was just about to open the door, when someone knocked on it, catching her by surprise.

"Kate? Are you there?" she heard Sephie ask.

"Y-yeah, I'm here." Kate answered, still a bit shocked.

"Food's almost ready, I thought that you might want to know."

"Okay, thanks, I'll be right there. And tell the other to save some for me, or they'll be fucking sorry."

"Right, sure thing, Kate."

Back in the kitchen, Tyroth was working his magic, literally, using his mana claws to cut, slice and dice, while his pyrokinesis was used to both barbecue and flambé the various pieces of food he was preparing.

"Louie may be a master chef, but Tyroth is a true magician in the kitchen." said Sephie.

"I see what you mean, this will be an interesting experience." said Donatello.

"Hope you like it well grilled, guys, 'cause that's what you get today." Tyroth said as he started carrying the food on trays. Grilled bell peppers, roasted porkchops, skewers with corn, beef, chicken and potato, toast and homemade chips. It both looked and smelled delicious, and the gang wasn't disappointed. As soon as they had started serving themselves, Kate entered the kitchen and as soon as she felt the smell of the food, she liked her lips in hunger and anticipation, and quickly joined the other at the table.

A few minutes later, Splinter entered the kitchen and joined the youngsters, having rested and meditated beforehand. He was served a plate with food that was more his taste and a cup of tea, rather than what the others were having.

Another few minutes later, they heard the entrance open, and shortly after, Michelangelo walked into the kitchen, and he was almost beaming with some form of happiness, which everyone noticed, but only Monalisa and Sephie knew why, and that worried them.

"Welcome back, Mikey." said Leonardo. "You seem to be in a very good mood."

"Like you wouldn't believe, bro."

"So what's the occasion?" Donatello asked.

"Oh, I'd love to tell you guys, but I'm not sure if I should."

"Come on, spill it already, Mikey." said Raphael.

"You're not gonna believe this, but… I've made a new friend." Michelangelo said smiling widely.

"And who might that be, my son?" Splinter asked with a warm smile.

"Another mutant?" asked Leonardo, half expectantly.

"Her name's Shari, and she's human. I ran into her a few days ago, saved her from a couple of would-be rapists. I've been checking up on her every night since then, just to make sure that she's okay and all, and she's really nice and not at all afraid of me."

"That's a surprise, given your history." said Raphael.

"Well, you haven't heard the best part yet." Michelangelo said with a faint blush as the memory was still fresh in his mind. "She really likes me, and I like her, so tonight, I took her to one of the spots where we use to stargaze. The stars were really beautiful and the moment was almost magical, so… we kissed."

That last part caused most of the mutants to almost choke on their food.

"You what?!" Raphael yelled.

"We kissed. It just happened, but it felt so right. I… I think I'm in love, and that she feels the same."

"I do not know what to say about this." said Donatello, feeling a mix of emotions.

"Excuse me." Kate said, coughing and rose from the table, hurrying out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Sephie and Monalisa watched her leave with pained hearts, knowing the true reason to why she left.

"Michelangelo, I would wish to speak with you in my quarters." the old rat said with a stern but obviously caring voice.

* * *

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Kate was holding on to the sink, shaking as tears fell.

"...no… no… Why?" she sobbed. "Why would he choose a human? Why? I thought… I thought that he was… But she… she stole him from me… stole his heart… That bitch… that fucking bitch… I'll… I'll kill her… I'm gonna fucking kill her!"

 **That's some heavy news right there, figures that Mikey wouldn't be able to keep that a secret for very long. Wonder what Splinter has to say.**

 **And poor Kate, learning that the person she love, loves someone else. I would have been devastated too.**

 **Let's see what happens next, next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **Dark Secret Revealed**

Master Splinter led Michelangelo into his quarters, motioning for the young turtle to sit down while he lit some essences to create a calming atmosphere for them to talk in.

"This is most serious, Michelangelo." the old rat said, sitting down opposite of the turtle.

"Are you angry with me for not telling you, master Splinter?" Michelangelo asked slightly carefully.

"I am not angry, my son, I am in fact very happy for your sake, that you have found someone special. Tell me, are you certain that she feel the same?"

"Well… we never outright said that we loved each other, but I know that I love her, and she's the one who made the first move, so I'm pretty sure that she loves me."

"I see, and what will you do now?"

"What do you mean, sensei?"

"The two of you are very different, you being a mutant and she a human, and the kind of lives that you live are even more different. The road ahead of you will be difficult."

"I don't follow. There hasn't been any problems with April, Casey or the other human friends we have. Okay, there were a few times, but-"

"That is what I mean, Michelangelo." Splinter interjected. "Our lives are filled with strange events and dangerous situations, not to mention many enemies, while hers is most likely a normal life. Yes, miss O'Neil and mister Jones have been through a lot together with us, and they are fine with that, but the relation between you and miss Shari would be as that of Raphael and Monalisa, as mates. Such a bond requires a lot of both of you."

"But Raph and Mona are mates, and they're doing okay."

"Yes, but they have the same kind of lives, both are ninja and crime-fighters, that is why they have been able to not only maintain their relation, but also let it grow stronger, just like you all have grown closer. For you and miss Shari to have such a bond, both of you would have to nurture it in such a way I am afraid may not be possible, simply because you may not have the time to spend with each other."

"I was thinking maybe she could move in with us, you know, be part of our family just like big sis did."

"A kind thought, my son, but then she would be giving up her old life, leaving friends and family behind, just like fate forced upon Monalisa, Tyroth and Sephie."

"I… didn't think of that..."

"Your heart is in the right place. And I do not want to stop you from finding love, I just do not want you or miss Shari to get hurt."

"I wound never hurt her, master."

"Not intentionally, but our actions have consequences, consequences that might affect her in ways that we do not want to. Our enemies are a good example, and I trust that you remember what they did to Tyroth's family, simply because they had a connection to him."

"I do, master."

"For someone from the outside world to have a relationship with us, is to be placed in harms way, as sad as that truth is, but if the two of you still will go through with this, then I will not stop you, but I will ask of you to talk with her about this before making a decision."

"But… what if she thinks I'm breaking up with her? I might break her heart."

"If that is the case, then that is the lesser of two evils. Sometimes you are forced to hurt those you care most about, in order to protect them. The right choice is seldom an easy one, my son."

"I… I think I understand, sensei."

"Good, then take a while to meditate upon this, and you will find the answer."

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the mutants were still very shocked about the news, and Kate was still in the bathroom.

"I still can't believe this." said Leonardo. "It feels like a strange dream, but I just couldn't imagine that Mikey would fall in love with a human."

"I think it's more of an infatuation than actual love, but a part of me disagree with that, so I'm not sure what to think." said Donatello.

"We've been through a lot of weird stuff over the years, but nothing beats this. Nothing." said Raphael. "And no-one had any idea that something was going on, what great ninja we are."

Monalisa and Sephie looked at the bathroom, both deeply worried about the recent events and Kate, and it showed.

"I was afraid something like this would happen..." Monalisa said under her breath, barely noticeable, but someone did notice.

"What's did you say, babe?" Raphael asked, hearing what his mate said. "Do you know something?"

Monalisa sighed and looked at Sephie, who knew what she was thinking and gave her a small nod, it was time to come clean, with everything.

"When Sephie and I went out for a while, we didn't really go for a jog, we followed Mikey when he went topside."

"You did? Why?" asked Leonardo.

"We were worried that something was wrong, with how he went skating every night. After what happened to Tyroth, we got worried that something similar might have happened." said Sephie. "However, we didn't expect what we discovered. We saw him meet this girl, and followed them further, as Mikey carried her to one of the spots where we use to stargaze, then we saw them kiss."

"So it did happen? I still can't believe it." said Raphael.

"It did, and we were as shocked as you were when we found out, but we didn't think that he would tell us right away." said Monalisa. "And I'm afraid that we have been keeping more from you guys."

"There's more? What have you girls been up to?" asked Donatello.

"You've noticed that Mikey has been acting a bit strange the last week?"

"Yeah, more than usual." said Raphael.

"He came to me, thinking that he might be sick, but I found nothing during his check up." said Donatello.

"Well, the reason is that he had started to long after a mate of his own, which we figured out after he told me how he felt." Monalisa continued. "After that, I wanted to help him find someone, so I got in touch with Sephie and Tyroth."

"So you two were in on this as well." said Leonardo.

"That's right, though I wasn't aware of what happened tonight." Tyroth said.

"We were going to talk with you about it, babe, but we never really got the chance." said Sephie. "And now things have taken a turn for the worse."

"What do you mean, Sephie?" Donatello asked.

"There was another reason for bringing Kate with us."

"Wait, you don't mean?" Leonardo asked, as he caught on to what Sephie was talking about.

"That's right, Leo. We're pretty sure that Kate has a large crush on Mikey." Monalisa said.

"Again, what kind of ninja are we if we can't notice something like this?" said Raphael.

"We thought that if we brought the two of them together, they might become a couple given some time." she continued.

"But Mikey has found someone else, not even knowing how Kate feel for him. Poor girl, I understand how she must be feeling." said Leonardo, remembering when he found out that Monalisa had chosen Raphael over him.

"She's gonna need our support, but I think it would be best, at least for the time being, that we don't mention that we know of her crush." said Tyroth, trying to think of the best way of handling it.

Then there was the issue of Michelangelo and a human having fallen in love with each other, but they were cut off when Kate exited the bathroom, not looking too good. They could clearly see that she had shed at least a few tears, and she still coughed some.

"How are you feeling?" Donatello asked.

"Could have been better… 'cough' Nearly choked on the food, coughed so my eyes watered and I felt like I was gonna throw up… 'cough' Ugh… I still don't feel too good, I think I'll take it easy the rest of the night." Kate responded with a hazy voice.

"You do that, sounds like you could use a rest. We'll let you know if anything happens." said Leonardo.

Kate didn't say anything, she just nodded weakly and walked towards her room, wiping the last traces of her tears.

Everyone felt sorry for her, and knew that the coming days would be very hard for her, for them all.

And they were more right than they thought.

* * *

Roughly at the same time, Arashi was waiting for his ninja to return from their mission, practising with his katana to keep his skills sharp and pass the time.

"My lord." The doors opened and a ninja entered the throne-room, causing Arashi to stop his swordplay and look at the ninja.

"Yes, what is it?" the Foot leader asked impatiently.

"The squad of ninja you dispatched has returned, my lord." the ninja answered with a bow.

"They have? It was about time." Arashi said, sheathing his blade. "Send them in immediately."

"At once, master!" the ninja said and left. A few moments later, a couple of ninja entered the room, together with Shari. Arashi looked at her and smiled.

"Welcome, my dear. I hope that you are well." he said.

"What do you ask of me, master?" she replied coldly.

"Straight to the point as always. That's what I like about you, girl. As to why you were recalled, I am curious to your progress, as you haven't reported anything since you were given this assignment several weeks ago."

"Of course I haven't reported, I made absolutely sure that I wouldn't have anything in my possession that could be connected to the Foot, should the mutants try anything."

"I see. Then tell me, how is your mission progressing?"

"It is going very well, if I may say so myself. After… persuading some ruffians to help me staging fake attacks on me, the trap was set, and even though it took several nights, I have managed to gain the trust of the one known as Michelangelo, he doesn't suspect a thing, in fact he truly believes that I love him."

"Does he now? Impressive work, that could not have been easy to achieve."

"It took a lot of work, even with my acting skills, but I was lucky that it was him and not one of his brothers, I don't think they would had fallen for it, even with the perfume that doctor Arden created."

"He truly is a genius, a perfume with highly concentrated pheromones of female turtles. Even though they can't smell them, their brains still react to them. It has proven to be well worth the effort. But how much longer will it take you to find their base, despite your success, I was expecting more."

"It depends on the turtle, master. I try to persuade him, but it has to be done gently, or he and the others might suspect something. Had it been as simple as using a tracker, we would have found them a long time ago. But I will succeed, I promise you, master."

"See to that you do, this is the closest we have been since we captured the Dragon's family."

"Fear not, master. If it becomes clear that my cover will be blown, I will capture the turtle and bring him to you. Doctor Arden has provided me with a special pepper spray, that also contains his Head-on-a-stick-serum, so the mutant won't be able to escape."

"Excellent, you make me proud, my dear. Soon, all our efforts will come to fruition."

"I really hope so, master. It hasn't been easy to keep up appearance all the time, I nearly puked when I kissed that ugly freak. Disgusting. Have to brush my teeth for half an hour to get rid of the feeling once I get back to the appartment."

"Your sacrifices will not be in vain. But now it would be best if you returned to your mission."

"At once, master." she said, and turned to leave.

"One more thing, Ren, my dear." Arashi said, causing Shari, or Ren that she was really named, to stop and listen. "If all else fails, kill that turtle."

Hearing that, she got an evil smile.

"With pleasure, Uncle Arashi."

 **Please don't quit reading just because of this! Had I know that Shari/Ren would become so popular, I would have done this story differently. But as it is, I've already worked a lot on this plot, so it will continue as I planned.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **The Next Step**

After having talked with master Splinter for a while, Michelangelo exited the old rat's quarters, having a lot to think about. Never once had it occurred to him that a romantic relationship with a human would be so complicated, and now that he knew, he wasn't sure what to do. He loved Shari, and didn't want to give her up, he wanted to find a way to make it work between them, even if it would be difficult.

"You sure gave us a shock, little brother." he heard Raphael say, as the red-masked turtle had decided to wait for him, while the others had gone to process everything.

"Are you angry at me, Raph?"

"I'm a lot of things right now, mostly confused and worried to tell you the truth. Never thought that you'd fall in love with a human."

"Me neither, but I did, and she did the same with me."

"Can't believe that either. So, what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know, I'm trying to think of something, but no luck yet."

"Not surprising, this is something big. To be honest with you, I think you're an idiot for falling for this girl, but, looking back on things, I guess I could say the same about me when I fell for Mona. Love seems to do that, and if she feels the same way, well, I guess that's how it is then."

"So you're okay with it?"

"I don't really know, maybe. But I do know that if you really love her, you'll keep her safe, 'cause she might just need it. So be there to protect her, you hear?"

"Like you did when you ran off with Mona in Skyrim?"

"Not really my brightest moment, but like I said, love makes us stupid, so you should be fine."

"Thanks. I mean, hey! Or I mean… What do I mean? I'm lost."

"Just know this, that in the end, it's worth it. Come on, I think the others would like some details about this Shari too."

"Sure, but I have something I have to do first."

* * *

A short while later, Kate lay in her bed, having cried into the pillow since she got there. Her heart hurt greatly from learning that Michelangelo loved someone else, regretting that she couldn't win his heart, that she took it too slow.

'Why?' she thought to herself. 'Why do I keep falling for the wrong guys? Why can't I be allowed to be happy, to love and be loved? You'd think that I'd learned by now, to seal away my heart from everyone, but I don't, and in the end, it gets shattered, time and time again.'

Memories came to her mind, of previous relationships, from before her mutation, of how they had all ended badly, and her heart being crushed every time. Yet she always kept hoping, and dreaming of that which she desired, of that which her heart desired. Someone that would love her, that wouldn't leave her or break her heart, someone that could help it heal properly and fill the void which had grown each time.

She thought that she had found one that was the one she desired. The moment she laid eyes upon him, she felt that he was something special, she felt it in her heart, and the more time she spent around him, the more convinced she became that it was more than just infatuation, but she never let it show, even though she had accidentally let her guard down around him, letting him see a side of her that she hadn't shown anyone for several years, the soft side that she had hidden away to try and protect her scarred heart from more pain.

And now, Michelangelo had broken it, without even knowing it.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Hey, Kate?" she heard Michelangelo ask from outside.

"What?!" she snapped, too upset to be able to keep calm.

"Are you okay?"

"...yeah, I... just need to rest for a while... so leave me alone..."

"Oh... okay. Sorry for bothering you, I just wanted to check if you wanted to play a game like we said we would, but it's cool, we can do it when you're feeling better. Get well, okay?"

Michelangelo's words cut deep, unintentionally sowing guilt as he walked away. Despite that she was harsh to him, he was still kind and gentle, she couldn't be mad at him, as he only wanted to keep what he had promised her and still cared about her, just not in the way that she wanted.

Burrowing her face in the pillow again, she cried, not knowing what she should do any more.

* * *

Back with the others, Michelangelo told them about Shari, how they had gotten to know each other and what she liked.

"… her favourite colour is yellow, she likes to dance and go to the movies, works at a small flower shop, studies to become a fashion designer on her spare time. And she likes pizza."

"The most important trait, eh?" Raphael chuckled.

"When we asked you to tell us more about Shari, I didn't think you would give us a full list just like that." said Donatello. "You sure have committed everything about her to memory. Impressive."

"Of course I did, I love her, and it would've been rude not to remember what she's told me."

"Who would have known that you would be such a devoted boyfriend. I really hope that it works out well with her." said Sephie. While she was very worried about Kate, she was also happy for Michelangelo's sake.

"Yeah, me too." said Michelangelo, still not sure how to deal with the problems ahead of him. Then he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I've mentioned that we live down here, and that there are more than just me, and Shari's been asking when she could come here and meet you guys."

"Has she now? Hmm… I'm honestly not sure that's a good idea." said Leonardo

"Why not? You guys said you were okay with me and her being a thing."

"I meant that I think it's too soon, at least to let her into the lair. I want to meet her at least once before that, just to be on the safe side."

"There's no need for that, bro, you can trust her, I promise. But, I guess you're right either way. I'll talk with her tomorrow night, see if we can set up a meeting the night after that."

"That sounds like a good idea, Mikey. She lives close to where we ran into you the other night, right?"

"Yeah, in the apartment building just above. I usually meet her on the rooftop, so how about we have the meeting there?"

"I'd rather that we meet down in the far back of that alley, less chance of getting spotted, especially if all of us are going."

"So, us Mutopians as well?" Tyroth asked.

"Since Mikey has already mentioned you to her, I don't see any harm in it, besides, your presence alone should make any of our enemies think twice about attacking should they discover us."

"It worked the last time, I don't think I've seen Foot ninja run so fast since he wrecked their throneroom." said Michelangelo. "Shell, even I wanted to get outta there."

"Not really sure if it's wise to bring me along then, don't want to scare her." Tyroth said. "But it might still be for the best, hopefully she won't be overwhelmed by everything."

"Then it's settled. If she's okay with it, we'll meet her in the alley the night after tomorrow."

"Great! I'll let her know when I go see her tomorrow. Oh, she's gonna be so excited!" Michelangelo chimed.

Though not all were as excited as Michelangelo, as he was oblivious to how Kate felt for him, but they knew. Leonardo especially felt for the viper, as he had been in the same situation once, and he knew that they needed to do something to help her, his instincts told him so.

 **It seems that all but Kate are at least somewhat supportive of Mikey, but no-one has a clue to who Shari really is. And they want to meet her, I wonder how that will go.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 **A Meeting Arranged**

The next night came, and things were almost as if it was a normal day, with a few exceptions. Michelangelo was nearly ecstatic about his new-found love, and so excited for introducing her to his friends and family, that he couldn't focus properly during training, something that earned him a few stern looks from Splinter, luckily that was all that was needed to get him to focus again, if only for a while.

Kate, on the other hand, was still very upset and hurt, though she did her best at hiding it behind her tough act, but she still had some trouble with both focusing during training and keeping her temper in check. It had been very close several times that she had snapped at the others, Splinter included, but she managed to hold it back, if with some difficulties.

Once their training was done, and they were off to do something else, Splinter halted Kate just before she left the dojo.

"Miss Kate, a moment, if I may."

"Yeah, what?" she asked rather roughly.

"I noticed that you had some difficulties maintaining your focus today, and you seemed agitated. Is all well?"

"It's nothing, just some... personal problems. Haven't slept that well either."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Sorry, I know you only want to help, but I can handle this myself."

"Very well. If you change your mind, I will listen, and so will the others."

With a nod, Kate left the dojo, but once she was out of sight, Splinter's face fell. He had noticed several things with her behaviour changing after Michelangelo had revealed the existence of Shari, and, after just that short conversation, the wise old rat understood why.

'So, that is what is haunting you. Poor child, her love having been unintentionally rejected, now her heart aches greatly and she tries to hide it. I have seen this pain before, Kate, and I pray that you can open up and talk with those that care about you, for holding it in will only harm you and possibly those close to you.'

* * *

As soon as their training had finished, Michelangelo didn't waste any time heading out to meet Shari again, and bring her the good news, that the others would like to meet her. He grabbed his skateboard out of habit and rolled the familiar path that he had taken the other days, feeling relieved that he didn't have to hide the reason he went out alone every night.

But as he got closer, his happiness was slowly replaced with worry, as he remembered what master Splinter had told him the night before. He didn't want to hurt Shari in any way, and he didn't want to lose her either, but the truth was that both of those were not only possible, but actually had a high risk of happening, with the Foot and everything. He had to figure out a foolproof way of protecting her, that would allow them to be together, meaning he had a lot of work ahead of him.

After climbing up to the rooftop, he saw that Shari was already waiting for him, and as soon as she saw him, she ran up to him, hugging him and giving him a quick kiss.

"No-one's ever greeted me like that before." Michelangelo said with a blush.

"Is that so? And what did you think of it?" Shari asked with a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Let me think… I think I love it." he said and kissed her. "Have you waited long?"

"A bit maybe, but I wanted to see you again so badly, after last night, you're all I've thought about."

"Me too, and that almost got me in trouble when I couldn't concentrate during training today. But, boy do I have news for you!"

"You do? This must be something really good, with how excited you are."

"Well, it's really mixed good and possibly bad news, but mostly good, and I'll start with the almost bad ones." Michelangelo took a short pause to gather both words and courage. "Last night, I just couldn't control myself, and I told the others about you, man were they shocked when they heard that."

"And? What did they say?"

"They were actually happy for us, once they had gotten over the shock, but they did tell me of a bunch of stuff, stuff that I had forgotten. You see, we got enemies, really bad guys that we try to protect the city from, and with you and I being a thing, you'll be in danger if they learn about you."

"Does that mean that we can't be together?" Shari asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'm afraid that it does, but I won't give up on this, I will find a way for us to be together, I just don't know what right now. We can't protect you twenty four seven, since we're active at night. The only thing I could come up with is that you move in with us."

"Move in with you? You would let me do that?"

"Of course, but you wouldn't be able to live as you do now, so no work, no studying, that kind of stuff, and you'd pretty much leave all your friends behind, there's a lot of stuff that would change if you lived with us."

"I understand, but… if I can be with you, maybe it would be worth it, but it's a lot to think about."

"I know, and I really want it to work between us, so I will keep thinking. But I did say that I had some good news as well, and that is that the others want to meet you as well."

"They do? That's wonderful news, I've been wanting to meet your family too. Are you going to take me to your home?"

"No, sorry, but my big brother wants to meet you down in the alley below first, he want to be sure that you can be trusted first. I tried to tell him that you're okay, but he's very stubborn when it comes to keeping us safe. You understand, right?"

"Yeah, sure, I understand, you have to be careful, not being human and all. Did he say when he wanted us to meet?"

"Tomorrow night, same time as you and I usually meet, if that's okay with you."

"I'm fine with that, but I'm not sure why we can't meet right now."

"If I know Leo right, he wants to make sure that we're prepared, just in case something major bad would happen."

"Leo? That's the name of your big brother?"

"My oldest bro, yeah, I'm the youngest outta four brothers. Our adoptive sister is also older than me, and so are the guys that are visiting us, shell, I'm the runt of the group."

"It's not that bad, at least you got siblings, me on the other hand is an only child. Growing up, I would have loved to have a brother or sister, even if I would have been the youngest."

"Yeah, you're right, it just hit me that everyone else is older than me. And don't you worry, once they get to know you, you'll be treated like a sister by them."

"You think so? That would be lovely." Shari said with a smile, but inside, she had been smirking every since she got the news about meeting the rest of the mutants.

'Things are going according to plan.' she thought. 'But now I have one of the most difficult tasks ahead of me, gaining the trust of the rest of the freaks and learning the location of their 'lair', without them blowing my cover. I will make you proud, Uncle Arashi, I promise.'

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the lair, Kate was still trying to keep up appearance and to think of something else, currently watching TV to help take her mind of things. But with nothing worth watching, she ended up zapping between every channel she could find.

"Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing." she mumbled.

"Got a moment, Kate?" she heard someone ask behind her. Turning around, she saw Leonardo.

"I suppose, it's not like I'm doing anything important."

"Then would you please come with me to my room, I'd rather that we talk in private."

"Private? What the fuck's going on?"

"Just trust me, I'll explain, but it is important."

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more out of the turtle, Kate sighed and followed him, a bit reluctantly but she knew that he could be trusted with just about anything. Once they were inside his room, he closed the door behind them, so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Okay, we're here now. Care to tell me what the hell that's so important?" Kate asked irritated.

"How are you feeling?"

"That's what you wanted to talk about!? That's what's so important that you have to drag me to your room!? What the fuck?!" Kate snapped, as she started to get really angry.

"I'm serious, Kate, I'm worried about your sanity."

"My sanity?! Why the hell would you be worried about that of all things?!"

"Because I've been in the same situation as you once."

"What the fuck are you talking about?! What situation?!"

"Kate, we all know that you have feelings for Mikey."

That sentence made Kate fall silent in shock, she didn't know how to respond and her rage faded.

"… you… you do?" was all she could manage to say.

"Yes, though I'm sorry to say that Mikey didn't know that."

"Tell me about it. But how did you know, and for how long?"

"No more than a day, but Mona, Sephie, and possibly Tyroth too, apparently knew for some time, and told us shortly after Mikey told us about Shari. I'm fairly sure that master Splinter has figured it all out as well."

"So that's how it is. But what did you mean with you having been in the same situation?"

"Precisely what I said, I have also been in love with someone that was unaware of my feelings. Back when Mona joined our family, both Raph and I became attracted to her, but unlike Raph, I took it slow, while he was more… aggressive with his attempts to win her heart. In the end, he won, and he and Mona have been together since then, but no one ever knew that I too had feelings for Mona, not even herself."

Kate listened to what Leonardo said. They had been told that Monalisa had been human before and mutated in a different way than the turtles or Mutopians, but nothing about how it actually happened, and that was understandable, there were still many Mutopians that never had told anyone about their past, Kate included. But that there was something like this involved in how Raphael and Monalisa became a couple, was something Kate would never had guessed.

"Just like you," Leonardo continued. "when I found out that she had chosen Raph instead of me, I was devastated, broken beyond words. Once I knew that you had such feelings for Mikey, I noticed similar things with you that I too experienced, and I fear that you will fall into the same darkness as I did unless you let us help you."

"Darkness? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Learning that she loved my brother and not me, I took that very hard, and I started having horrid nightmares about how I would destroy my family because I couldn't have what I wanted. I kept quiet about that, hoping that it would go away if I ignored it, but it didn't, instead it turned my sadness into hatred, a festering darkness within my soul, and one day, I couldn't take it any more and I snapped. I almost killed Raphael, and almost destroyed my family as well, with my actions causing the others to be captured and tortured by the Foot. It wasn't until I was able to get help that I managed to banish the darkness, and save my family, and even then it almost cost me my own life. However, that darkness still linger deep within me, always making itself known, even to this day. It may not have any real power over me any more, but it is still there. I don't want you to go through the same things I did. Tough as you may be, this isn't anything to take lightly."

Her mind processing everything Leonardo had said, Kate sat down on the bed. She knew that what Leonardo said was true, he wouldn't lie, least of all about something like that, the fact that those things had happened to them was enough to shake her to the core.

"Remember, you're not alone, Kate, we're here for you, all you have to do is open up to us. Once you do, we will help you through this." Leonardo said, and walked over to the door, but before he could open it, Kate spoke up.

"Leo, wait." she said. "You're… you're right, I'm not as well as I wanted you to believe. I… I… when Mikey said that they kissed, my insides turned, my heart broke. I was devastated and angry, I still am, and I wanted that girl dead, wanted to outright kill her, I still want to, because she stole him from me..." A few tears fell as she spoke.

"I felt the same way, I know your pain. It will not be easy to overcome this, but I will help you with the same meditation that helped me, and you will recover."

"You think?"

"I know you will, you're a strong willed woman, that's one of the reasons why I think you would do well with ninja training. But that will have to wait until after we've dealt with all of this."

"Thank you, Leo."

"Don't thank me just yet, there is still another… hardship that you have to pass before things can began to get better."

"And what's that."

"Tomorrow night, all of us will be heading topside. Mikey will introduce us to Shari."

"WHAT?!"

 **That sure came like a shock to Kate. Maybe Leo could have been a little more tactful with that last part, but why beat around the bush, it had to be said. Next time, we'll see just how this meeting will go, and how Shari/Ren will succeed at deceiving the mutants.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

 **I am Shari**

Once Leonardo had managed to calm Kate down from hearing that they would meet Michelangelo's girlfriend, which was not an easy task, he decided to start her 'treatment' immediately, and started instruction her in the same kind of meditation that the Ancient One had taught him to heal his soul.

It took some effort for her before she began to understand how to do it, and she wasn't in her most stable state at the time, but that was when she needed it the most. Leonardo had to constantly support her during the session, especially when her anger towards Shari started to flare up again. As much as she hated her, she would have to accept what had happened and move on, a task that was all but easy. Leonardo remembered his own torment, since he had been unable to truly do so and it cost him dearly, but knowing what she would face allowed him to be there and help her.

Seeing what Leonardo and Kate were doing, the others quickly understood what was going on, and felt very sorry for Kate, but they felt better knowing that she was in good hands with the eldest turtle, yet they all worried if she would be fit to meet Shari the next night.

A part of Raphael was angry with how Michelangelo had broken Kate's heart, but he knew that he never would do something like that on purpose, and Raphael himself had been just like Shari, stealing the person someone else loved, while Monalisa had been like Michelangelo, unknowingly choosing one over the other. Now he was seeing what Leonardo had gone trough from a different perspective and it really made him think about what that had happened that time. In the end, he just couldn't be angry with Michelangelo because of that.

When the goofy turtle came back, and asked what they were doing, the rest of the mutants told him that it was part of Kate's ninja training, as they didn't want to make him feel guilty over what had happened. It was best so.

* * *

The next night, Ren was preparing herself for the upcoming meeting with the mutants, putting on some of the special pheromone perfume that doctor Arden had concocted, hoping that it would allow her to more easily gain the trust of the other turtles if they felt a certain allure with her. The lizards were another story, since they were both female and different species, making pheromones that affected them the same would have been difficult, and the less things that could possibly link 'Shari' to the Foot, the greater her odds of success.

But there was still one big obstacle, the dragon. Just thinking of him made her very uneasy, while she had never even seen him with her own eyes, she had seen the trail of death and destruction he left through their headquarters, and every ninja feared him even more that the wrath of their master. Having been told that he was in town, she thought long on how she would deal with him, and still had no answer. Her uncle had told her about the mighty powers he wielded, and it was like a story made to scare children, only this one was true.

'Keep it together, girl, you got this.' she thought to herself, trying to stay focused on the goal ahead. 'That monster won't hurt you as long as you play this 'Shari'-role, his foolish honour won't allow him.'

Looking at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was almost time to go to the alley below, the mutants should be there shortly as well.

"Moment of truth then." she said, going to grab her jacket and head out to the alley. As Shari, she was supposed to be nervous, and that wasn't hard considering what awaited her, she truly was nervous.

* * *

Walking down into the alley, her trained ninja senses were on high alert, searching for any signs of the mutants, not that she was expecting them to attack her, they had no reason to, at least not yet, but she needed to be vary all the same. She also had to force herself not to react to quickly to whatever might happen, as that could give her away.

As she moved deeper into the alley, she heard a sound from the shadows. Waiting for a few split seconds, she then turned towards the sound.

"Hello? Someone there?" she asked, sounding a little anxious and fearful, but there was no response. She wasn't as worried as she appeared, she could easily handle any thugs that might creep around in the alleys at night. Then the sound was heard again, metal softly scraping against the pavement.

"Relax, Shari. It's just me." she heard a cheerful voice say, and shortly after, Michelangelo came into view, having climbed up from a manhole.

"Oh, Mikey, I'm so glad that it was you. I was worried that it might have been more like those that attacked me when we first met."

"Sorry about that, we had to make sure that it was clear to come up. Don't want anyone else to see us, right?"

"Of course not, I understand. So, are the others with you?"

"Yep! You're gonna love them, well, most of them at least. Some takes a while to get used to."

With that, Michelangelo went back to the manhole and signaled the others at the bottom that it was clear, and one by one the rest of the mutants made their way up on the surface. The three remaining turtles were first, followed by the girls, of which Kate was last, finally, Tyroth climbed out of the sewers, with some difficulties.

Ren stared in mixed amazment and fear at the dragon mutant, almost not noticng the additional reptile in the group, or the rest of the group for that matter.

"It's okay, Shari. Big T may look scary, but the dude is totally cool." said Michelangelo.

"He is? Okay... I trust your word, Mikey." she said, all the while she was going over how to best deal with the mutants if they discovered the truth. Her special pepper-spray could disable them all long enough for her to make her escape or even slit the throats of at least a few of them, but again, the dragon was a large problem. From what she had read, he had grown very resistant against many of Arden's serums, and while not the Head-on-a-stick, the gas variant was still suffering from limited duration compared to the original serum, so it would most likely not be very effective at all.

While she planned ahead, the mutants introduced themselves, and Ren took particular note of the previously unidentified mutant known as Kate. Ren wasn't sure what kind of reptile she was, but she was obviously quite different from the other two, however, she did notice Kate seemed more susspicious towards her than the others.

And she was right, but not in the way she was thinking. Kate was still very angry and upset over loosing Michelangelo to Shari, and while Leonardo had helped her to start acceping it and moving on, but she was far from finding peace. She was, however, able to hold it inside of her for the time being, even though a part of her mind screamed out that she should kill Shari, and she was tempted to.

"So you're the one who sunk her claws into my little brother, huh?" Raphael said in an amused tone.

"Uhm... I suppose...?" Ren replied, actually a little uncertain on how to respond to such a statement.

"Raphael! That's no way to greet Mikey's new friend." Leonardo half snapped.

"Relax, Fearless, I mean no harm, just checking how she'd react."

"I don't mind, I was just surprised, that's all." Ren said. "But, yeah, I suppose you could say that I 'sunk my claws into him'. I hope that that's no problem for you."

"No, of course not." said Raphael. "I actually like you, there is something about you that's, I don't know, aluring maybe? Not sure what it is, but I do know that I like you."

"I agree with Raph, you have a certain charm to you." said Donatello, and Leonardo nodded in agreement, making Michelangelo happy that they accepted her.

Ren smiled happily as well, though it was not for the same reason, but rather that the pheromones seemed to work just fine on the brothers too. Earning their trust would make it easier to earn that of the others, and learn the location of the lair.

But all was not perfect, for Monalisa was a little suspicious to her mate and adopive brothers' nearly instant acceptance of Shari. Leonardo, and definitively Raphael, would have been more suspicious towards a new aquaintance, if only to protect their family, yet not so in this case. Monalisa couldn't put her finger on why it was that way, but they were all happy for Michelangelo's sake, maybe the brothers were more happy than they had initially let on.

* * *

They all continued to talk for a short time, asking her some questions, and she asked them a few as well, which they answered as best they could without revealing too much. During the whole time, Kate stayed out of the conversation, keeping a small distance away from Shari. Looking at the human, she felt the anger within grow, but when she looked at the happy face of the turtle she loved, she felt sad, and even a little guilty for wishing that he and Shari never had met. As much as she hated to admit it, she had no right to ruin their happines, not even so she could have him for herself.

"Hey, you okay, Kate?" Sephie asked softly so the others wouldn't notice, placing her hand on Kate's shoulder and snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I... I don't... no, I'm not... My emotions are in such a turmoil right now, that I'm surprised that I can keep them contained."

"You don't have to do this, we can leave if you want to. I can tell them that you're not feeling well and that I'll escort you back to the lair."

"Thanks, Sephie, but no thanks. I have to endure this, deal with it, if I am to heal according to Leo."

"Just don't push yourself too hard, okay? If it gets too much for you, just tell me and I'll handle the rest."

"I will, I promise."

* * *

A short while later, Leonardo decided that it was time for them to head back, since it was getting late from Shari's point of view, and they didn't want to keep her up all night.

"It's been really nice meeting you, Shari, but we have to leave now." he said as they one by one started climbing down the manhole.

"Already? I was hoping you could stay a while longer." she said a bit disappointed. "Can I go with you? I'd love to see where you guys live."

"Sorry, but not tonight. You're not nocturnal like us, and from what we've been told so far, you are quite busy with studies as well as your work. Don't want to have you all sleepy at work. Maybe another day."

"Oh, I understand. Another day then, sure."

"I'll personally escort you there, Shari." said Michelangelo proudly.

"Thanks, Mikey." Shari said with a smile. "See you again tomorrow?"

"Sorry, but we got a lot of training tomorrow, so I can't make it in time. But the day after tomorrow?"

"That's fine too. You have been checking upon me every night for a while now, I should be fine."

Once the mutants were back in the sewers, and the cover was closed, Ren smiled almost triumphantly.

'So close, it won't be long until I know where they are hiding. And the pheromones worked wonders on the turtles, and through them, the others trust me as well, even the dragon. But I mustn't be careless. If I'm very careful, I might be able to contact Uncle Arashi without the freaks discovering anything, and have the ninja hide weapons in the area for me to use, should I need them.'

 **There is a snake among our heroes, and it ain't Kate. Ren seems to have been successful in gaining their trust, and now she's getting a bit bold. How will the team handle this, will they even learn the truth before it's too late? You'll have to read on to learn that.**

 **Sorry that it took a while, but with it being Christmas time, things have been busy for me. So let this chapter be my gift to you all. Merry Christmas! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

 **Check-up**

The mutants arrived back at the lair, with the meeting with Shari still fresh in mind, and they had a lot to think about now that their future seemed to include her as well.

"So, what do you think, dudes and dudettes? Wasn't she just totally awesome?" Michelangelo asked in a very happy tone with a wide smile on his face.

"She sure seemed like a nice person." Leonardo said.

"When can I bring her here? She'd just love to see our sweet lair."

"Actually, I don't think we should."

"What?! What is it this time, bro? You said that she was okay and all."

"She is, in fact it did seem to be something special about her, yet my gut tells me that something is not right. What I don't know, but I can't ignore it."

"You're not the only one, Leo." said Monalisa. "My gut also told me the same, and you turtles were a bit too accepting with how important it is that we keep hidden from our enemies."

"Now that you mention it, we were. I wonder why." said Donatello.

"What about you, Tyroth? Your senses are sharper than most of ours, did you sense anything out of the ordinary? Magic maybe?" Leonardo asked his dragon friend.

"No magic, but I can't say that I felt the same allure that you seemed to have. There was however something with her scent, underneath that perfume she wore. For some reason, it felt almost familiar, but no matter how hard I think, I can't place it. Maybe it's nothing."

"You guys can't be serious. You said you were okay with her, but now you're going back on that?" Michelangelo protested.

"We're not going back on anything, Mikey. I just want to be absolutely sure that we can trust Shari before letting her know where the lair is. Just let us check up on her background and such. If we don't find anything, she can come here. Okay?"

"Alright." Michelangelo sighed, not overly happy with his family's suspicions, but he understood it.

"I suppose I'll hit the computer and see what I can dig up then." said Donatello.

* * *

Ren walked into her apartment, having been able to contact her uncle about hiding weapons in the surroundings for her. It hadn't been easy, but she managed, now all she needed to do was to wait, as they would stealthily inform her of the locations. Several sets of kunai and shuriken as well as katana would be at her disposal.

'Now it's only a matter of time until we know where they are hiding, and the sooner I can drop this charade, the better. I just hope that Uncle Arashi and doctor Arden can come up with a way to deal with the dragon, otherwise he could jeopardise everything. I suppose we could wait until he and those whores of his leave, but who knows when that might be, and I'm not sure if I can keep this up for much longer.'

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair as she finally could relax a bit. During the entire meeting, she was incredibly nervous that she would be discovered, and the presence of the dragon didn't help. She also had a hard time taking her mind off the new mutant, she recognized some of her features, but still could not identify the species of reptile, and she didn't like having such unknowns in the game, knowing one's opponent is key to victory.

Still, she was confident that the Foot could handle one more mutant, as Kate didn't seem to be one of the more deadly mutants, unlike someone else.

'I wonder how to best deal with the dragon. At least Arden will settle for his corpse, the beast is far too dangerous to try and capture again. And from what we learned from his clones, he's not invincible, a slit throat or a blade in his heart, and he will die just like anything else, it will just take a lot more effort, with his healing ability and all.'

Looking out through a window, Ren could see the Foot Headquarters off in the distance. Arashi, her uncle, most likely sat in the throneroom at that moment, commanding the Foot in their master's absence. But one day, Shredder, their true leader, would be rescued from his frozen prison and take his place on the throne again, just like they all wanted. Ren hoped that, after locating the freaks' lair, she would be recognized by Oroku Saki himself once he returned. To be able to stand by her master's side as her uncle once had, that was her dream.

'He will be proud of my success, all of them will be. For I will succeed where they could not, and finally rid us of the freaks once and for all.' she mused, turning away from the window. But as she did, she got the feeling that she was being watched. She focused her senses and located where the perpetrator was, right outside the very window she had looked through just seconds earlier.

Her muscles tensed and she was ready to strike within a moment's notice. Visualising how her opponent moved outside, she could feel how the window was silently opened behind her. Then, quick as a flash, she turned around, opened the window completely, grabbed her foe and pulled him inside before he could react.

With her foe on the floor, she was just about to incapacitate him when she saw that it was in fact one of her fellow Foot ninja. Ren groaned in annoyance, quickly closing the window and the curtains.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, clearly angry.

"Nice to see you too..." the ninja said as he picked himself up from the floor. "Is that any way to treat a colleague?"

"Colleague my ass. You clearly haven't trained enough to even be considered that, not with how easily I both detected and defeated you. Now answer me, what are you doing here?" she half snarled, glaring at the ninja.

"I came to deliver a list of all the places where we've hid the weapons you requested." he responded, handing Ren a small metal tube with the list inside. "We made sure to do it as fast as possible, and all the stashes are well hidden."

"At least you're doing something right then." she said. "Now get the hell out of here, before you're spotted. I got enough on my mind right now, don't need any more from you."

"Just make sure you succeed, or hope that the freaks kill you. It doesn't matter if you're Arashi's niece or not, you won't be safe from his wrath if you fail." the ninja said as he slipped back out through the window and disappeared into the dark of the night.

Clutching the metal tube in her hand, Ren knew that the ninja was right, she wouldn't go free from any kind of punishment if she failed just because Arashi was her uncle, more likely the opposite, it would be even more severe. He wouldn't show any kind of mercy on his own flesh and blood, and he expected so much more from her as well.

"The stakes are high." she said, opening the tube and reading the list, memorising it.

 **Not much further until something major will happen, but what? What do you think?**

 **Will they discover Ren's secret? Or will she learn where the lair is hidden?**

 **Only I will tell, but not this chapter.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Confrontation**

Donatello rubbed his tired eyes, having spent several hours looking into Shari's background, and finally, he was done.

"Any luck, Donnie?" Leonardo asked as he walked into the room, making the brainy turtle to turn around.

"You have an uncanny timing, Leo, I'm just done."

"And? What have you found?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Everything she has told us checks up."

"So, there's nothing wrong with her then. Mikey will be glad to hear that, but still, my gut keeps telling me that something isn't right."

"I hear you, but what? I've double-checked everything, she's clean."

"Check it all again."

"Leo, we all know how important it is to keep our lair a secret from the Foot and whatnot, but even I think that you're too paranoid about this."

"Maybe I am, and I hope that I am wrong about all this, but please, check everything one more time, just to be on the safe side."

"Fine, if you think it's necessary." Donatello sighed, and resumed working.

* * *

A few hours later, Donatello had gone over everything again, looking into the very code of the pages to uncover any and all secrets, and still had nothing to show for it other than Shari's clean records. Yet, despite that, Leonardo's gut-feeling still told him that something was wrong, and it was driving him crazy. Having exhausted all other options, he decided to seek his master's wisdom on the matter.

"Master, may I speak with you?" he politely asked as he approached the old rat.

"Of course, my son. Is there something that trouble you?"

"There is, but I'm uncertain of exactly what. It is about Shari."

"The girl that Michelangelo has fallen in love with? I see, do continue."

"As you very well know, we have to be very careful about who we trust with the location of our home, and I'm not certain about if we should entrust that information to Shari."

"And why is that, Leonardo?" Splinter asked, understanding his son's intentions but not his specific reason.

"That's just the thing, master, I don't know. She seemed like a very nice girl when we met her, having a certain charm of some sort, and after having Donnie do a background check on her, everything speaks for her being trustworthy. Yet, for some reason, I got this feeling that we shouldn't trust her. I can't explain it, but that's what my instincts are telling me."

"And a warrior does wise to trust his instincts, that is what I have taught you and your siblings."

"One of many lessons that I have take to heart, master. However, after the... incident after Mona chose Raph as her mate, I am not certain that I can trust my instincts in this matter."

"So you seek my advice, a wise decision if you feel uncertain. But, I do not think that you should doubt your instincts because of past events, if they tell you something is amiss, you should be vary."

"But what, master? That's what I can't figure out. And I don't want to stand in Mikey's way of being happy."

"I know, Leonardo, we all wish his best."

"Then, what should we do?"

"What does your instincts say?"

"That… I should be careful. So, we let her come here… but without knowing how to find us, perhaps by covering her eyes with a blindfold, at least in the beginning."

"An acceptable compromise, my son. One that I am certain that she will agree on if she is sincere."

"I will still keep my eyes on her, master, just in case, but I bet Mikey will be happy to hear this."

"Most likely." Splinter said with a smile.

And they were right. As soon as Leonardo told Michelangelo that was allowed to visit, even with the precautions, the orange-masked turtle cheered so loudly that everyone in the lair heard him, regardless of where they were. They would later discuss a date for when she would visit.

His happy mood didn't diminish one bit the next day, not even the long and hard training seemed able to dampen it, and Michelangelo made it through without any complaining, at least not from his side, as Splinter had to remind him to focus a few times. However, not even that was enough to make Michelangelo any less exited, and the next day could come soon enough for him.

* * *

Finally, it was time for him to be able to go and see Shari again, and give her the good news, so once their training for that day was done, Michelangelo immediately grabbed his skateboard and hurried out into the sewers, making his way to meet his girlfriend like he had promised to.

"That's one happy turtle." Sephie said as she and the other watched the youngest turtle leave the lair.

"Sure is. I don't think he's been this happy in, like forever." said Donatello.

"Let's hope that Shari doesn't take offence." said Leonardo. 'And that we can trust her…' he thought to himself.

As the mutants went back to their own tasks and activities, Kate glanced back at the exit, her eyes lingering there for several minutes. She sighed and went to her guest room, exiting it shortly after, with her whip at her side, making her way towards the exit. This was not unnoticed however, and just before Kate was able to open the hidden door, Tyroth approached her with a serious face.

"And where do you think you're going, Kate?" the dragon asked, making the viper stop in her tracks. She sighed and turned to face him.

"I'm going to confront Shari." she said.

"And you think I will let you do that? We know how you feel about her."

"It's not like it's a big secret, but yeah, I want to hurt her, kill her even, for taking Mikey from me, I can't deny that, won't even try. But I have to do this."

"Explain yourself." Tyroth replied intrigued.

"Leo has been a great help, even though it's only been a few days so far, but I think I'm healing thanks to his teaching, slowly at the very least. But, I think it won't work unless I do this. I have to confront her and tell her, tell them both, how I feel, to let them know that their love has actually hurt me, so that they understand why I am the way I am. I don't want to hurt Mikey, if he's really happy with her, then… then there's nothing else to say, I'll just leave them to their life, I just have to get all of this off my chest, then maybe I will have an easier time to find peace. You probably don't even believe anything of what I just said, but..."

Tyroth stood silent for a while, then he placed a hand on Kate's shoulder and nodded.

"I believe you, Kate, and I trust you. If you think you need to do this, then I won't stop you, but if you feel that there is even the slightest risk of you not being in control, come back right away."

"Okay, I promise."

With that, the viper left the lair, following Michelangelo's path to where Shari lived. Tyroth watched her leave, praying that nothing bad would happen. He wanted to follow and keep an eye on her, just to be safe, but if he did that now, after what he had said, he would be going back his word of him trusting her. As it was, he would just have to wait and see.

* * *

On the surface, Michelangelo had already reached Shari's house, having hurried as much as he possibly could, though this time, she wasn't meeting him on the top of the building, but rather in the alley where they last saw each other, back when she was introduced to the rest of the mutants. She smiled widely when she saw Michelangelo emerge from the manhole, though mentally she was grinning triumphantly.

"Hey, hope you haven't waited long, I got here as fast as I could." the turtle said with a wide smile of his own.

"I've waited a while, but I was early, so it's my own fault, and it's worth the wait to be able to see you again."

"Aww, you're gonna make me blush if you continue like that."

"Well, why shouldn't I? You're very special to me, Mikey." she said and gave him a kiss.

"Okay, now I'm definitely blushing."

"So how was you day… or night, yesterday?"

"Busy, really busy. We had an outrageous lot to do, training and chores, but it didn't feel so bad since I was thinking of you all the time."

"You did? Aww, that's so sweet of you!" she said, giving him another kiss, making him blush even more.

"You're gonna make me as pink as my sis' headband if you keep that up." he said, causing her to giggle.

"Who knows, you might look good in pink."

"I don't know about that. But I do know that I have good news, or, well, sorta at least. The others have finally agreed to let you come and visit. Took them long enough, the whole lot of them can be so paranoid some times. Anyway, I was to ask you when you'd like to visit, so they could plan ahead and all that."

"Hmm… how about this Saturday night? That works with my schedule."

"Sounds okay to me, hopefully the others will think so too."

"I'm sure they will, it's important that you all are careful, I understand that."

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that! Leo wants you to wear a blindfold when we take you there."

"A blindfold? Seriously? You weren't kidding when you said they were paranoid, but if that is what I have to do for them to realize that they can trust me, then I'll do it."

"Sweet! I'm sure they'll get over all this once they've gotten to know you a bit better, like I have, and I know that you can be trusted."

"Thank you, Mikey, that means a lot to me. But, you know, you could always draw me a map to your home."

"A map? I don't know..."

"We both trust each other completely, and the others don't have to know, it will be our little secret. Would you do that for me, love?" she said, batting her eyelashes at the lovestruck turtle.

"Eh… sure, why not, just make sure not to show it to anyone, okay?"

"Of course, I don't want to get you into trouble. Once I've memorised the map, I'll burn it to make sure no one else will see it."

"Cool. Got a pen and paper? 'Cause I left mine at home."

"Sure, I got a new notebook I got for my studies, a few pages less won't hurt."

Michelangelo started drawing the map instantly while explaining it to Shari, who concentrated hard on committing it all to memory. Her goal was being made right in front of her eyes, and she was having a hard time containing herself.

"… and that's where the panel is, just punch in the code and you're in. Easy as pie."

"Great! Thanks! Now, let me repay you for everything."

Before Michelangelo could ask what she meant, she reached inside her purse and pulled out a small can of pepper-spray, and sprayed him in the face, but rather than any kind or burning sensation, his entire body went numb as he inhaled the gas, and he fell to the ground, unable to move.

"W-what's going on?! Shari?!" he asked, starting to panic.

"Save your breath, freak, there is no 'Shari', never has been." she said, walking over to a drainpipe and removing a piece of it, revealing one of the many packages of weapons the Foot had hidden for her. Removing the clothe, she found a katana, as well as half a dozen throwing kunai and many more shurikens, all of which she placed in her belt while she drew the katana from its scabbard.

Fully armed, she walked back to the helpless Michelangelo and looked him in the eyes.

"I am Izo Ren, niece of Izo Arashi, leader of the Foot in our master Shredder's absence."

"… no… that can't be…" he said weakly with tears in his eyes. "… you said you loved me… you kissed me..."

"All part of the act, so that we could learn where you and the other freaks are hiding. As for the kisses, they were more revolting than anything I've seen in doctor Arden's laboratory, and I am glad to be done with this charade, and done with you."

She raised her blade above Michelangelo's head, aiming to execute him, so she could at the very least say that she had succeed where everyone else had failed, she had found the lair and killed one of the turtles. She could taste her victory.

"Don't you dare!" Ren heard someone yell behind her, and she quickly turned around, seeing Kate standing by the corner to another alleyway, her whip was uncoiled in her hand and she looked at Ren with fury in her eyes.

Kate had exited through another manhole and reached the corner just before Ren revealed her true identity, hearing everything. She had struggled to resist the urges of hurting the human for what she had done, but not any longer, now she could do what she had wanted from the start.

"You fucking, lying bitch!" Kate snarled. "You've made two fucking huge mistakes! First you stole his heart, then you broke it! I'm gonna send you straight to hell!"

"Oh yeah? Bite me!"

"Gladly!"

 **So Shari, or Ren, has shown her real colors at last, getting impatient but still getting results. But now Kate also knows the truth, and we all know she has been itching to get her hands on Shari. This is gonna be good.**

 **It's been a while since I updated, and I got my reasons. You see, me and my lovely wife have just returned from our honeymoon, a wonderful week-long trip to London, never been there before, but we're already wanting to go back. We also took the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of our dear friend Bloodrayne666.**

 **Now things are back to normal, and updates will be coming at a normal pace again. See you around! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

 **Three is a Crowd**

Kate glared at her foe, the girl who had stolen the heart of Michelangelo as Shari, but who in reality had been Izo Ren, Arashi's niece, aiming to charm her way to the location of the lair, by pretending to be in love with Michelangelo.

Her whip was uncoiled and ready, her free hand was clawed and her fangs throbbed as she longed to inject her venom in Ren.

Likewise, the undercover Foot ninja held her razor-sharp katana in front of her, and her belt held her six kunai and dozens of shuriken, all of which she could throw at an instant and with deadly precision.

Meanwhile, Michelangelo lay on the ground behind Ren, paralysed from the Head-on-a-Stick gas Ren had sprayed him with, and could only watch through the tears as the two women was about to engage in a death battle.

Dashing towards each other, the two combatants were determined to make sure that only one of them lived through the night. Kate lashed out several times with her whip, but Ren saw the attacks coming and deftly avoided them all and quickly moved closer, slashing with her katana, forcing Kate to react quickly to not get hit. The viper moved to the side, avoiding the first slash, and ducked under the second, though she was too slow to get out of the way of the third attack, receiving a very shallow cut on her left upper arm.

Jumping backwards to get a little distance, Kate knew that Ren wasn't going to be an easy opponent, and the extensive ninja-training that she had was clearly an advantage over Kate's own combat-training, but as everyone knew, messing with a venomous snake is never a good idea.

Going on the offensive again, Kate attacked with her whip, forcing Ren to sidestep to avoid getting hit. But that put her in close quarters of Kate, who had moved towards Ren and now attacked anew, this time with kicks and slashes from her free hand, while the whip whirled around her as she spun around. Successfully parrying the viper's kicks, and just barely avoiding her clawed hand, Ren was ready to counter, but was taken by surprise when Kate's tail struck the ninja in her stomach.

Caught off guard, Ren was not able to react quick enough to Kate's next attack. The viper ended her spin with an underhand punch, using the bottom of the whip's handle to strike Ren's katana at the same spot, knocking it out of her hand and high into the air. As Kate's hand continued upwards, her whip followed, threatening to hit Ren from her waist and up.

Doing a series of back-flips in rapid succession, she managed to avoid the leather weapon. During the last back-flip, Ren pulled out several of her kunai and shuriken, throwing them all at Kate as soon as she landed and catching her katana again. Seeing the incoming projectiles, Kate had to react instantly to defend herself. Her whip cut through the air numerous times, each lash swatting a few of the metal projectiles out of the air, and within the blink of an eye, the kunai and shuriken lay on the ground.

Ren dashed towards Kate, slashing with her blade, cutting a few strains of hair as the viper ducked and rolled under the attack. As soon as Kate finished the roll, she tried a sweeping kick at Ren's feet, but the ninja simply jumped over the attack and threw two shuriken in retaliation, both of which hit Kate's right leg, despite her trying to evade them. However, as the metal stars struck her, Kate lashed out with her whip and succeeded to hit Ren mid-air. She cried out in pain as the leather gave her a nasty wound on her cheek, blood starting to slowly run down her face from the burning wound.

Placing her hand on her aching cheek and feeling the warm blood, Ren glared at the viper. Now it was personal. Furious over having her fair face scarred, she pulled out a kunai and wielded it in her left hand as she charged at Kate.

Slashing and stabbing, Ren forced Kate to go on the defensive, parrying and avoiding the ninja's attacks with little to spare, a few attacks cutting through her clothes in a few places. As Kate sidestepped a jab from the kunai, she countered with a quick kick to Ren's knee, upsetting her balance and making her unable to properly defend against Kate's follow up attack, with which she kicked the kunai out of Ren's hand.

But Ren recovered quickly, rolling to the side and back on her feet, slashing with her katana again, but not at Kate, or at least not directly. With the quick underhand slash, the tip of the katana struck the ground, throwing loose dirt in Kate's eyes, temporary blinding her. Even though she was part snake, for some reason she lacked the thin protective skin that snakes have over their eyes. While the viper frantically tried to quickly clean her eyes, Ren used the opportunity given by her dishonourable tactic to move in for the kill.

Getting behind Kate, Ren got her in a headlock and thrust the katana into the viper's back, causing her to scream in agony. Only Kate's squirming to try to break free saved her as the blade erupted from her stomach, missing any vital parts as it pierced her right side. Still, the wound was serious, and Kate was still stuck in Ren's grip.

"Seems your bark was worse than your bite!" Ren taunted.

"Y-you haven't… felt my bite yet..." Kate forced herself to say, overcoming the pain.

Baring her fangs, Kate sunk them into Ren's arm that held her, injecting her with venom. The sudden pain of both the bite and the snake venom caused Ren to loose her grip on the mutant, as well as her katana, and stumble backwards half a step.

Freed from the ninja's grasp, Kate choose to ignore the blade in her stomach and lunged at Ren, grabbing on to her head and biting her again, this time in the neck, pumping every last drop of venom into her. With her glands emptied, Kate pulled out her fangs and ended the battle by snapping Ren's neck with a quick twist, the ninja falling to the ground limp.

Breathing heavily, Kate spat on the fallen Ren, her saliva mixed with both traces of venom and the blood of Ren. Then her attention returned to the blade piercing her abdomen, but as she tried to pull it out, the pain was too great and she just didn't have any strength left.

With increasingly weak and wobbly steps, she made her way over to Michelangelo, and knelt by his side. Looking into his eyes, behind the tears, she could see the sadness and pain caused by his broken heart, the same as she had seen in her own many times before. But there was also fear and worry in his tear-filled eyes.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Me? What about you? You're stabbed!" Michelangelo said.

"I'll… I'll be alright… it just hurts a lot..." she said, but she felt how she was getting more light-headed. Sitting down and leaning against the wall, she reached for her shell-cell and activated the emergency signal. With the beacon active, she smiled and her eyes closed, her hand dropping the shell-cell.

"Kate...? Kate! KATE!"

 **The battle has ended, but is it a draw? With Michelangelo still paralyzed, what hope does Kate have if the others don't get there in time? Is it already too late?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 **Feelings**

Back at the lair, there was a minor uproar about Tyroth letting Kate leave to confront Shari.

"I can't believe you would do something like that?!" Raphael almost yelled. "You of all people should know how violent she is, and we all know how she feel about Shari!"

"Even I have to admit that it seems like a very stupid thing to do, honey." said Sephie. "But why did you let her do it?"

"Because she asked me to. She said that felt that she needed to explain to Mikey and Shari how she felt, that she needed to do it in order to heal. And I trust her, as aggressive as she can be, she knows that attacking Shari won't do anyone any good."

"I agree with Tyroth." said Leonardo, much to everyone's surprise. "I think this will help her immensely. Had I done the same when I was in her state, we might have avoided all the horrible things that my actions caused."

"I really hope that nothing bad will happen any of them." said Monalisa.

At that time, their shell-cells started beeping. Recognizing the emergency signal, everyone tensed and started to worry.

"Me and my big mouth." Monalisa complained silently, feeling that she had jinxed it.

Checking the shell-cells, they saw that it was Kate's beacon that had been activated, which was a surprise. Whatever the case, they all hurried to gather their equipment and left the lair, heading for the beacon's location, which was near Shari's home to their horror.

'Please, Kate, don't be the cause of this.' Tyroth prayed.

* * *

Leonardo lifted the lid of the manhole in the alley and looked around, and he was horrified of what he saw. Shari lay motionless on the ground farther down the alley with signs of injuries. Kate sat against the wall closer to the manhole, she too with visible injuries, the worst of which being the blade in her stomach, and to make matters worse, she didn't seem to be conscious. Michelangelo sat next to her, tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to wake her up.

"Kate... Please wake up..." he sobbed.

"Mikey!" Leonardo called out as he climbed up as fast as he could, allowing the others to do the same. "Donnie! Kate needs help fast!"

"This looks bad." Donatello said after a quick examination. "What happened, Mikey?"

Michelangelo looked over at the human woman with sad eyes, more tears falling.

"...Shari… she… she wasn't who she said was… she was with the Foot…"

"She what?! The Foot?! No way!" Sephie exclaimed.

"She… used some spray gas thing on me… then I couldn't move..."

"Sounds like that gas Arden used on us when we rescued Tyroth's family, doesn't it, hun?" Monalisa asked her mate, who nodded, also remembering the encounter with the doctor's 'Head-on-a-Stick'-gas.

"And she wanted to use you to learn where we live. Damn bitch! Who did she think she was?" Raphael growled.

"Her real name was Ren... Izo Ren… Arashi's niece..."

"His niece!? That bastard has family?! Like one Izo wasn't enough!" said Monalisa. "At least now there is one less in the world."

"I knew that her scent was familiar, if I only had realized it sooner." said Tyroth, glaring at Ren's body.

"… she was going to kill me… she would have if Kate hadn't showed up… she saved me, but… is she…?"

"She's alive. The wound isn't fatal, but she's still in pretty bad shape." said Donnie. "We need to get her back to the lair as quick as possible, but the katana is going to make it difficult to move her, and I don't think we should remove it, at least not until we've gotten her to the medical room. Tyroth, can you carry her?"

The dragon nodded and carefully picked up his viper friend, making sure that he didn't cause the blade to hurt her even more. It would have been difficult enough to get her down through the manhole without the blade, but they managed with great care.

Meanwhile, Donnie grabbed Ren's purse, checking everything thoroughly for any kind of trackers or similar before bringing it with him to see what she had. Leonardo had decided that they should just leave her body there for the Foot to take care of, she was one of them after all, and just as dishonourable like her uncle.

* * *

Kate wasn't sure where she was, everything was dark and her stomach hurt, she also had a hard time both breathing and moving, like if she was restrained. With a groan she opened her eyes, only to be met by bright light that forced her to close her eyes again. Trying again, she opened them only slightly, and saw a familiar face.

"T-tyroth?"

"You're awake, that's a relief." the dragon said upon hearing her. He got up from the chair next to the door and walked over to Kate's bed. She now saw that she was in the lair, the med-room to be more specific.

"How did I get here?"

"We got your emergency message and came as fast as we could. We found you both there, and brought you back here to take care of your wounds after the battle."

"It… it wasn't my fault, she..."

"We know, Mikey told us what happened. You saved his life."

"How is he? Where is he?" Kate asked, clearly worried.

"He's in his room, been there since he was told that you was going to be fine. As to how he feels, well… he has had his heart broken, and by the worst kind of betrayal that could have happened. I believe you know that feeling well."

"… all too well…" she said, remembering her past. "I want to see him."

"Just let Donnie check your injuries first, if he say that you're fine, then I won't stop you, okay?"

"Fine." Kate sighed. "So how bad were my injuries?"

"Most of them were little more than scratches, but the blade wasn't far from causing some serious damage. Donnie patched you up after we were able to remove it, he had to do some stitching but you should make a full recovery in a few days. You're lucky that you're a Mutopian, and heal better than average."

"Yeah, lucky. That thing fucking hurt."

"That's happened to me too, I know the feeling."

"Of course you do, but not everyone is a fucking Wolverine like you."

"If you can be like that, I think you're gonna be fine in no time at all." Tyroth said with a smile, to which Kate also smiled.

* * *

"I still can't believe that we almost let a Foot ninja into our home. They are getting way too crafty for my taste." said Monalisa, as she and the others were talking outside the medical-room.

"Those bastards just don't know when to quit." said Raphael.

"And they were very devious this time." said Donatello. "I checked Shari's... I mean, Ren's stuff, and while there was little out of the ordinary, there were a few items of interest. First, the pepper-spray was like we thought, Arden's gas variant of his 'Head-on-a-stick' serum, but I also found her perfume, and after running some tests on it, I discovered that it contained turtle-pheromones, female turtle-pheromones."

"So that's how she was able to bewitch Mikey, and when he was longing for a mate no less. She couldn't have picked a better time to attempt something like this. Poor Mikey." said Monalisa.

"Yeah, but now that I know that she was a fake, I went back to my computers to check her again, and I dug even deeper than I thought I would ever need, confirming that everything was fabricated. And now I know the new encryption algorithms and coding systems the Foot have used, so I'll know what to look for in the future."

"Then at least something good has come of this, and now I know why my guts were telling me that something wasn't as it seemed." said Leonardo. "We must be extra careful in the future."

"Hey, guys, you okay?" they heard Tyroth say as he exited the medical-room.

"I guess." Sephie answered. "How's Kate?"

"She's awake, and itching to get out of bed. I told her that you'd have to give her the all clear before that, Donnie."

"I don't think she's in shape to be walking around just yet, even though she does heal faster, but I would still want to check her wound."

* * *

Much to Kate's annoyance, Donnie wouldn't let her out of the medical-room, at least not for another few hours, just to make sure that the internal damage had had enough time to heal properly. But once those hours had passed, and Donnie had changed her bandages, she didn't waste any time in leaving, but only after she had promised to take it easy for a few days. Her side still hurt quite a lot, so she wasn't going to argue.

However, there was only one thing on her mind at that time, and that was Michelangelo. She was deeply concerned about him, and made her way to his room.

"Mikey?" she asked knocking on the door. "It's me, Kate. Can I come in, I'd want to talk with you."

She didn't get any response, even though she waited for a while, asking again to make sure that she had been heard. It was possible that he had fallen asleep, and she knew that she shouldn't enter his room without his permission, but she just couldn't leave him, not when she knew that he needed someone. Swallowing hard, she gently opened the door and entered Michelangelo's room, closing the door behind her.

"Mikey?" she asked when she saw him laying on his bed with his face buried in his pillow, just as she had done when he told everyone about 'Shari'.

"What do you want?" he asked, not even looking up, but Kate could hear the sadness in his voice.

"I want to talk with you, about everything that happened."

"Why bother?" he scoffed.

"Because… because I know how you feel, I know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you love."

That caught Michelangelo's attention, and he looked up from his pillow, his eyes red from the tears he had cried. He saw that she looked sad, and that she was telling the truth.

"Do you know why I'm so hostile all the time, and such a bitch sometimes?" she asked as she sat down on the edge of his bed, letting her hand rest comforting on his shell.

"It is because I've had my heart broken before. Back when I was human, I wasn't as mean as I am now, I was a lot more happy and cheery, in some ways, I was a lot like you. But, then I met this guy, who I fell head over heels in love with, and for a time, I was happier than ever. But it didn't last, a few months later, he dumped me for another girl, and I was so heartbroken that it took weeks before I could smile again."

"I… I didn't know..."

"No one does, I haven't told anyone what I'm telling you now, and that wasn't the only time that my heart was broken. How many times has it been? Sixteen, I think, and it hurt just as much every time. For some reason, I kept falling in love with the wrong kind of guys, those that dumped me, those that cheated and lied, even a few that abused me.

Eventually, I couldn't handle it any longer, so I left my old life behind, moved to another city and completely changed my behaviour.

I wouldn't allow people to mess with me, so I became what I am today, a tough-as-nails girl who would beat the crap out of those that annoyed me. I shut my heart away, so that it wouldn't get hurt again, and I've kept this act going for so long, even after my mutation, that I barely remember how I was before, how it was to truly be happy."

"So… that's why you're like that..." Michelangelo said in a low voice, finally starting to understand who she truly was. "But… back when you showed up in the alley, you said that she had stolen my heart… what did you mean by that?" he asked as he sat up next to her.

"You really isn't the brightest." Kate sighed, but gathered herself to tell the truth. "I went there to tell you both a very important thing… and that is that I…"

"That you… what?" he asked, and as he did, he could see tears falling from her eyes.

"That I love you!" she nearly shouted, having wanted to say those words for a long time, but almost having forgotten how.

"You… love me…?" he said, completely taken by surprise.

"Yes I do! I don't know why, but something with you brings out the happy girl that I once was. You've seen me giggle, I used to do that a lot before, but never after I shut my heart to others… not until I met you, when my heart started to open again. Then you fell in love with that girl… and my heart broke again..."

"Oh, Kate, I'm so sorry… I didn't know… I-"

"It's not your fault. She manipulated you, all of us, I know that now. And I know how badly you're hurt, but we're all here for you… I'm here for you..."

"Kate… I don't know what to say…"

"I know that your heart needs time to heal before you feel like you can love again, I've dealt with that too… but, if there is even the smallest chance that you might return my feelings one day, then I will wait for you…"

"I don't know..."

"It's okay… I've probably scared you with how I've been..." Kate said, looking away, slightly ashamed.

Michelangelo saw how she felt, and carefully put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug to comfort her. At his touch, she tensed up and almost recoiled, not being used to that kind of physical contact, but she quickly relaxed and let herself rest her head against his shoulder, feeling safe and secure in his arms. Michelangelo could hardly believe that it was the same girl that used to scare him, she seemed to be so vulnerable and insecure herself. As sad as he was about being tricked and betrayed by the one he loved, he wasn't the only one who was in pain. He gently stroked her side, making her look up at him, and while his eyes were still sad, he smiled at her.

"One day maybe..." he said softly.

"One day… thank you..."

* * *

While it would take quite some time for Michelangelo to truly recover from the emotional trauma, the fact that his friends and family were there for him, made it a lot easier. Kate especially was a great help, and it soon became clear to the others that Michelangelo started to develop feelings for her as well, yet both of them had agreed that they would just be close friends until they both felt that they may be ready.

During the remainder of the Mutopians' stay, Kate had also gotten noticeably kinder, even though she could still snap at the others if the moment called for it and be just as viscous as before.

Yet, as the mutants were happy for the bond forming between Michelangelo and Kate, despite the dire events that led to it, there was one that was anything but happy about how it turned out.

* * *

Back when the mutants retrieved Kate and Michelangelo, a small patrol of Foot ninja arrived at roughly the same time, but they kept their distance as the mutants outnumbered them. As the mutants left the alley, the ninja dared to venture down to inspect Ren's body bring it with them to Arashi, something they did not look forward to. Once they returned, Arden was tasked with preforming the autopsy, but what he uncovered was not expected.

"She's alive?"Arashi asked in disbelief.

"Indeed, master, and I was just as surprised as you. She is currently in a deep coma because of her neck being snapped and a very large does of snake venom. That allows me to identify the species of this new mutant, who delivered the venom and most likely is the one that took down miss Ren."

"I don't care about the new mutant, William! Is there anything that can be done?"

"I'm afraid not, master, at least not at this time. Even if she were to wake up from her coma, the damage she has received will most likely have caused severe damage to the central nervous system, making it very likely that her brain also have suffered damage. She could be little more than a vegetable. But I can easily keep her alive until I find a way to treat her."

Arashi glared at his niece.

"She has failed me, she is already dead to me." he said coldly. "Do what you want with this… garbage, it matters not."

With that, Arashi left Arden's lab, leaving the doctor with Ren's body.

"A shame really, she had such potential, but, in a way, she still has." Arden said, then he turned to the medical ninja in the lab. "Prepare her for suspended animation, she will be useful for some of my future experiments."

"Hai, sir!"

As the ninja started to prepare the equipment needed, a single tear rolled down Ren's cheek.

 **So ends Mikey's Date, and probably not as most of you thought it would when I started it.** **It was quite the close call for Kate, but she pulled through, and have now told Mikey how she feels and how she was as a human. I know some of you didn't approve of this pairing, but I hope that you've changed your minds by this point.,**

 **Mikey and Kate will not be an actual couple, at least not yet, that may happen in a future story, this is to work together with Bloodrayne666's stories, which are canon to my stories, and also have reached a point further ahead in time.**

 **Either way, that's all from me for now, but I will be back with more stories shortly. See you around, this is Tyroth Darkstorm signing off!**


End file.
